The wildest thing a patient has ever told me…

Over the last few weeks Ive spoken about mostly “serious” topics .. stress and injuries, stress and pain, pregnancy and babies. But today, being my birhtday I thought Im gonna go a little rogue and answer one of the most common questions I get asked as a physio, and share a wild (disturbing?) story!

A couple of years ago I had a husband and wife seeing me for physio one after the other. Like a lot of my patients I had gotten to know them over a number of years with their various injuries and really liked chatting to them and helping them with their problems.

Anyway, I was treating the wife whilst the husband was in the waiting room. We were chatting away and she revealed to me she was having an affair! She had been their whole marriage. It was INSANE. If I was a human in emoji form, this was me = . Now Im no stranger to patients telling me their deepest, darkest secrets (more on that later) but hearing this story knowing I had to act normal for the next appointment was a confronting and very awkward situation!

I always come back to this story because when patients always ask me “aw Tom people must tell you so much stuff, whats the wildest thing a patient has revealed to you?”. And of course, this story pops in mind. The next pathway in my brain is actually a weird sense of gratitude. People DO talk to me about really personal things, stuff they can’t share with other people, things they aren’t even talking to their psychologist about. I feel that is the ultimate trust you can show in another human and as a health professional (whilst it isn’t my job to specifically help them with this sort of stuff)) sometimes just being a kind ear for patients is all they are after. Creating that supportive environment is a powerful thing.

I should also say, I think people tell me things because I am 100% non-judgemental. Even the story I shared above, there’s no judgement from me. It takes all types to make a world and people have their reasons for making their own decisions .. it was just the having to see the husband straight after that rattled me!

We are all having less quality human interactions, are using our phones more, living more digital lives and of course the whole AI thing is overwhelming. Maybe people instead will seek out environments that make them feel supported and safe (person-to-person). People do not book in to see me for a chat or for their mental health BUT in the same way when you go to a restaurant you are going their to have a meal, or when you see a hairdresser you are getting your haircut … allllll the other bits add to making the experience more meaningful.

I reflect on this topic so often because it speaks to two things Im passionate about:

And these things go hand in hand! Think about all the small businesses you love in Newcastle, fair chance it’s the people and the interactions you have with them that make the experience for you.

Bigger businesses / corporations .. less interaction with the humans! Interesting hey.

My birthday has become a really crazy time because my youngest daughter’s birthday is the 24th July and our eldest is the 3rd August (mine is the day after!). So I get to this part of the year and IM COOKED. It’s such a busy time.

All of our clinicians have been super busy in the clinic as well, which I always love but it’s going to be nice today to finish early today!

See you all next week. Oh and if you work in a service based industry, what’s the wildest story a customer, patient, client has told you?