22 Aug The first line of defence!
Serious posting this week after those glorious Olympics!
Osteopaths and Physiotherapists often find themselves acting as “the first line of defence”. In conversation about a patient’s injury or pain, we get the chance to ask specific questions that can help us reach a diagnosis.
The first thing to establish is that, for instance, a patient’s headache is simply related to their neck and shoulders and not something more sinister that might need further investigation. We have been trained to look for signs and symptoms that might alert us to the fact that a particular injury might not be to do with your muscles or skeleton. Fortunately it is very rare for anything like this to happen, but every now and again, it does. Obviously, if we can spot this as early as possible it makes the chance of a successful outcome more likely.
The purpose of this posting is not to make patients fear that their mild pins and needles in their fingers is obviously a full blown heart attack, simply to make them aware that they should never feel embarrassed about discussing a symptom that they may feel is irrelevant to their pain. If you have a knee pain and have recently been struggling with your water-works, or breathing seems just a little more difficult than usual – tell your Physio or Osteo. If the practitioner thinks it’s irrelevant they can put your mind at rest, but please offer the information. The more complete the case-history notes, the more precise the diagnosis will be.
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