This is the final part of a blog series which explores what the science says patients want from physiotherapy or value about physiotherapy.  We have already discussed the characteristics of a physio, what you as patients want to know, and what you want your treatment to look like.

Arguably this final part is the most important as all that goes before it is all gearing up to this, the end result.

What outcomes do you want?

• Pain relief

Pain relief is obviously a key thing that people think about when it comes to physiotherapy. Duh!  IN fact in a recent study 89% percent of people rated this as a very important or quite important outcome of physiotherapy.

Getting peoples pain down or reduced makes for happy patients.  Fortunately there are many ways of achieving this.  Putting smiles on peoples face, makes me smile.  Win Win.

• Improved function

Interestingly from the same study function was ranked important by more people.  People often can tolerate some pain provided they are not limited or only slightly hampered by it.  It is why patients often come to me with a long history of a problem.  Although it is painful they only seek help when it starts affecting their life.

If someone says pain relief is there goal what effect that pain relief would have on their life?  What would be different?  What would that mean to you? By going in deeper we often unravel a patients true goals and can then set up a specific treatment plan accordingly.

• Prevention

This one also scored highly.  In fact higher than pain.  This was somewhat of a surprise.  However on reflection I get it.  People don’t want to go back to  bad times they have had when their pain was at their worse.  Equally they do no want things to progressively get worse.  Many of the patients I speak would be happy if things just stayed the same, they are happy enough with life but do not want to see it erode further.

Our approach at Weymouth Physiotherapy is definitely embedded in addressing this outcome.  We want to give you the skills and knowledge to manage this not only in the short term but also the long term.

• Understanding and education

Scoring highly but not quite as high, the science tells us many of you just want some clarity on what is going on.  That may be all you want.  You want to know what it is, you want to know that it is nothing serious and want to know whether what you are doing isn’t causing further damage.

I have heard this narrative so many times.  People like this often only need one or two sessions.  If you just want some reassurance, then we are your guys.  Helping people first, business and profits second.

Summary

People want to get various things out of physiotherapy and it is important that your therapist truly understands what you are hoping to gain from it.  Otherwise how can your treatment be targeted.  If you would like to discuss your goals with us (nothing is too silly) then arrange a call back session by filling out the form at www.weymouthphysiotherapy.com/callback

Finally a big thank you for reading this series of blogs.  If this is the first one you have read then check out part one, part two and part three.  Also have a good look around the website.  We have loads of information on it.  Check out the blog page and if you do have pain somewhere then check out our free e-books which give you advice to manage pain in your specific body area.