Pain

My new patient today on our first treatment had not taken her pain relief medication prior to our session. This proved to be a considerable setback to our session as the patient was clearly unable to partake in the exercises. We had the pain relief administered, and the session was conducted later in the morning.

  The point to note was, had I taken a harder approach with this patient on that first visit (without pain relief), I'm sure the session would not have been overly successful and the patient would certainly not appreciate any of our further sessions together due to our bad start. It is expected that some patients will have pain, though if they are not pushed to this pain, then they are less likely to progress and recover as successfully (pain will be present during healing, but should not limit their compliance). It also helps to determine if their pain relief is an adequate dose. Pain is not always an indicator of "something wrong", it can be a great indicator of the healing process. With my new patient, it was trying to determine if her earlier pain level (preventing the Rx session) was substantial enough to reschedule for later that morning. We did reschedule. My patient went from being very low in mood, and pessimistic about our session together, due to the pain, to a patient that was thrilled and surprised as to how much she could do post the pain relief having been taken.

The important thing I noted from this was to ensure that pain relief is administered or taken prior to sessions for those that require it. As she was a new patient of mine, I was unable to do this initially, but certainly for further sessions, it will be emphasised.