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By Harrison N. Vaughan, PT, DPT, OCS, Cert. SMT
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The 3 “C’s” to stay away from while practicing

Monday, October 29, 2012 17:53

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Conventional

Conventional…meaning generalized. This management approach is ineffective. Make sure you are not having a flow sheet for specific body parts (knee, back, shoulder, etc) that you just become a ‘flow sheet follower’. I hope we have moved away from this approach, but still see it search around. Another procedural approach that falls under this realm is HUM (heat, ultrasound and massage). Let’s stop this bleeding and give patients what they deserve.

Chronic

Not meaning getting rid of your chronic pain patients, but getting rid of your chronic treatments. If you go back and read your notes from 5 yrs ago and see too similar exercises, descriptions, and assessment; then you fall into this realm. Don’t get me wrong, alot of what we do works and you don’t have to fix whats not broken. But, with the advancements in continuing education courses, research and in general intuitive and forward thinking physical therapists present in our profession, we have alot to learn from and advance ourselves. Don’t be static.

Closed-minded

I have never been closed-minded per say but definitely more open-minded here in the last year or so. What does this mean? Well, from a great mentor and start, I’ve definitely been taking the body from an arthrogenic approach (joint dysfunctions, arthrogenic inhibition, etc) and just never applied other concepts in my treatment (such as neurodynamics, pain education, directional preference). This has led me to be more creative and even get results for certain subgroups of patients that would have otherwise been limited. I will argue that I have just had more experience and opportunity to learn, but could not have been led to other approaches if I was closed-minded.

What are your thoughts? Any other “C’s” to add? Or, other letters will work too