Hey there,
Many of you have read my passion story about why I started Athlecare. If you haven’t heard it yet you can read about it here. I was thinking about this experience and several others this last week. From this pondering I believe I have found what the underlying issue is with a lot health issues. Nobody truly listened.
If a doctor had really listened and acted on what my wife was saying she might have gotten help sooner. In fact, the last doctor we worked with was the one who finally listened and offered an alternate solution that found her issue.
Recently my team has found solutions for people who had issues for a long time. How did we figure out how to solve the problem where others failed? We listened. This is why when I started Athlecare the very first thing I both studied and taught was about listening.
With my team we began practicing listening and working with people rather than creating generic protocols. With this we are usually able to figure what is best for you. We are successful because we listen, not because we have some secret formula or technique.
Here are a couple of examples. We had someone come in with chronic calf issues. He had been to doctors trying to figure out how to make them feel better, but had little to no success. When he came in he told me he felt like someone need to just squeeze and push out swelling in his calf. So we did that, and believe he is feeling so much better. All we did was listen.
Not too long ago we had a lady come in with lower back pain. By the time she came to me a PT and a doctor had told her she should stop her activity completely. She came to me hoping for another solution. The solution? I spent 30 minutes listening. I learned about how her pain was inhibiting her, what she has tried already, and all the frustrations that came with it. From there I explained to her I fel the only thing missing was consistency. She had moments of success but ultimately never had consistent help. We set up a plan and went moved forward with it. She is now pain free and able to do what she loves.
My hope and dream is that you will feel listened to when you come to Athlecare. Health is personal and needs to be treated as personal.
I believe a lot of today’s current issues could be resolved if we truly listened. Here are three ideas you can consider implementing so that we can promote listening with everyone.
1. Listening is emotional – Don’t just hear what they are saying, ask yourself, why are they saying what they are saying?
2. Listening is connection – When you hear someone say something try to reflect their demeanor. Let’s say your partner comes in and says they had a bad day and they look very depressed and you respond saying, “I’m so sorry you had a bad day” but you are distracted, or not really engaged. Do you really care if they are having a bad day. You may, but they aren’t going to feel it. Make sure your body, facial expression, and engagement reflect how they are feeling.
3. Listening is compromise – If someone says something you disagree with and all you can think about or say is the opposition of what they are saying, are you really listening. In compromise it is totally okay to disagree, but if you are not able to consider an opposite opinion or try to understand why something thinks the way they do, then you are not listening.
Hope you are enjoying you Holidays! If need anyone to listen to you, we are happy be that person for you at Athlecare.
Justin
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