3 Ways to Encourage Client Positivity in Your Physiotherapy Assistant Career
March 22, 2019
March 22, 2019
Positive thinking is an essential part of the recovery and rehabilitation process for people undergoing physiotherapy. In fact, a recent study of 1,000 patients undergoing physiotherapy for shoulder pain found that those who expected their physiotherapy treatment to help were more likely to recover than those who expected little or no benefit from treatment.
For anybody working in physiotherapy, such studies simply reinforce what many people know to be intuitively true: client positivity can have an impact on treatment outcomes. If you’re considering a career as a physiotherapy assistant, helping clients stay positive can help them reap the full benefits of their treatment. Here’s how you can promote client positivity during your physiotherapy assistant career.
1. Goals Are Helpful for Keeping Clients Motivated to Continue Their Physiotherapy
People who are in severe pain or who have just suffered a serious injury may have difficulty seeing much to be positive about. Negative thinking can cloud their judgement and make them feel like even physiotherapy is “pointless.” This negative thinking can make it difficult for clients to stay motivated to continue physiotherapy, which in turn can lead to poor treatment outcomes.
A good way to combat negative thinking is to identify specific challenges and then set goals to overcome them. While a client’s treatment plan is developed primarily by the physiotherapist, as a physiotherapy assistant you can help participate in program planning by providing the physiotherapist with feedback about the client’s progress. This feedback can help the physiotherapist develop goals that are specific and achievable, like having a client be able to perform a certain exercise. If goals are specific, then clients have something concrete they can look forward to and accomplish, which will help them stay motivated.
Specific goals, like completing certain exercises, can help clients stay motivated
2. Share Stories of Success During Your Physiotherapy Assistant Career
Clients who are trying to overcome pain or injury may feel isolated and like no one can truly understand their situation. One effective way of overcoming this attitude is to share stories of people who have been in similar situations and who have successfully recovered.
After completing your physiotherapy assistant program, you can share success stories to inspire clients. A good idea is to avoid talking about other clients you have worked with so as to not inadvertently violate confidentiality and privacy rules. Instead, you can go online and search for examples of how people have used positivity to overcome serious injuries and pain. Your workplace may even provide literature with examples of success stories that you can give clients.
Sharing success stories with clients can help them feel like recovery is possible
3. Ensure Your Client Has a Support Team to Help Them Along Through Physiotherapy
Part of your physiotherapy assistant career may include talking to a client’s family members. You can talk to family members about the importance of helping their loved one stay positive throughout the treatment process and how they can act as the client’s support team. With a support team behind them, clients are much less likely to feel as though they are going through physiotherapy alone.
Having a support team not only helps create a positive atmosphere around the client, but it also creates a level of accountability. Wanting to please a loved one can be a highly motivating factor for many clients. If they know that their family is by their side and monitoring their progress, they will often feel as though they need to put as much effort into their recovery as possible so as to not let their loved ones down.
Are you ready for an exciting new career?
Contact Medix College to learn about our physiotherapy assistant school.
