Motion Forword - Words of a Therapist:Blind Spots, Body:Language Barriers & Big Leaps
Welcome to Motion Forword - Words of a Therapist! Number 29!
Motion Forword is about discussing the combined benefits of movement with a positive mental attitude. Using my personal/professional experiences, evidence-based research and some of your own experiences.
Bringing some hope, positivity, happiness and maybe usefulness to those, perhaps like yourself, that needs a pick me up.
Something about me… Our Scientific Illiteracy – How we can be caught out by our blind spots.
I am rubbish with dates.
I had to use my girlfriend’s birthday as a PIN for years to help me remember it!
Maybe this is why I didn’t take up history at school. And probably why my history knowledge is spotty at best, even now! And if someone was to tell me something about history, I would most likely believe them and take it as fact.
Recently, I was having an interesting conversation with a patient who is a secondary school chemistry teacher and they offered a very intriguing insight:
If we don’t continue our science learning into GCSEs (or O level to you more mature reader) then we have the science understanding of a 14-year-old (unless you do some further reading or take an interest outside of formal education).
Like my history knowledge is probably worse than my 8-year-old niece!
In case you are interested… I found this test that tests your general science knowledge. I got 10 out of 11!
At least my science knowledge is pretty good as I believe my works foundations are in human biochemistry.
So, this led to an epiphany.
*This next bit is quite hard hitting…*
I have known of certain clinics (that I won’t name here) that are offering therapy that is outdated, unsupported by scientific literature and is, at worst, harmful to patient’s long-term health. These clinics in my eyes are doing more harm than good and are conning people out of their money.
But I never understood why people (of all levels of intelligence) were happy to spend their hard-earned money here…
If my hunch is correct, the average person’s scientific understanding is of a low age so we are easier to convince and less likely to question a science-related topic (like me and my history knowledge). Especially when delivered by someone with authority in the field. Like a therapist.
Combined with:
1. People in pain are scared,
2. People in pain want help,
3. People in pain rely on the therapist they see to give them good, honest and accurate advice.
Unfortunately, in these clinics, they take advantage of our fear, our need for help and our lack of understanding and use it to convince us to spend our money when perhaps we wouldn’t need to.
Here is how they may convince you (based on first-hand accounts from genuine patients):
1. They will offer you a heavily discounted X-ray (that you don’t need) to draw you in, promising how this will help identify your problem.
2. Then have a separate appointment to tell you everything that is wrong (to scare you) with your X-ray (which isn’t supported by medical guidance or scientific literature) to get you to buy-in.
3. Then tell you, you must sign up to a course of treatment to get better which includes 2 sessions per week for 12 weeks. These ‘treatments’, by-the-way, will last 5-10 minutes and the therapist will often be treating one person after another in adjacent couches IN THE SAME ROOM!
And all for just shy of £1000.
To put that in perspective, the average number of sessions a person needs with me to get to a satisfactory resolution of symptoms is about 4-6 sessions. Often less. So worst case scenario for a typical lower back pain patient (for example) will cost £292. Most will spend less. AND in those sessions, we would have most likely covered:
Ergonomics, exercise/ rehabilitation, managing contributing factors, diet, lifestyle, motivational coaching, managing psychological and stress factors as well as the hands-on treatment itself.
From what I’ve heard, the treatment of these establishments is copy and paste, the same every time. You may not even get the same therapist every time.
This isn’t to highlight my virtue or how I am a better therapist. It is to draw attention to others’ poor practices and dishonesty and to make you and others aware that not everyone has your best interests at heart.
That being said, you may have had experiences with this type of approach before, and it may have helped you. But I believe you can get better help elsewhere, that is more affordable, not tricking you with fancy X-ray images (unnecessary radiation by-the-way), by more honest therapists and in a more proactive manner.
This is a little plea to you all.
If you (or a friend, family member, colleague etc) are faced with a similar situation to that I have outlined above, please stop and think before signing on the dotted line. Get a second opinion. You could save yourself a lot of time, money and frustration.
Thank you.
Something for you… Feelings vs Reality – Language Barriers with our own Bodies
Have you ever felt butterflies in your tummy?
Have you ever felt a frog in your throat?
Have you ever felt a vice grip around your head?
Did you ever think for one second that you actually had those things?!
No of course not! It is just how we describe the feelings we have. It’s our best interpretation of what we are feeling (or our symptoms) as we convey them to our friends, family or doctor.
Our description isn’t a perfectly accurate reflection of what is happening in reality. A language barrier with our own bodies!
This happens a lot in my work too:
‘I feel stiff’, ‘I feel tight’, ‘I feel out of place’, ‘I feel my pelvis is twisted’ etc
Again, this may not be accurate.
Especially when it comes to ‘being out of place’.
I write about this a lot in my blogs because I believe it is important to debunk.
We don’t go ‘out of place’. Some therapist may describe this as a ‘subluxation’ but these have been largely debunked by research and the treatment for it (adjustments etc) don’t ‘put you back in place’.
Make it stand out
Having some fun with memes…
I know it may feel that way. But that is just it. It is a feeling. Not what is happening in reality. Think of frog in your throat and butterflies in your tummy.
It is not to say that these types of treatment can’t be helpful, but it is working in a way that is way more complex than pushing things back into place. If it was that easy to push spinal bones back into place, I don’t think rugby players would live very long. 😄😄
A story… A Reflection on 2025
2025 has been quite the year for me.
I set out to make dramatic changes to my business and work life. Having never really believed in making New Year’s Resolutions, but this year I did.
My normal alternative to New Years Resolutions… Just ‘do it'.
I wanted to create some flexibility for myself to see more of my family in Kent whilst continuing to offer my services. Wanting to be the present, fun, silly uncle to my nieces and nephew as they grow up, be there to spend quality time with my parents and brothers and make memories whilst we still can but also enjoy and thrive in my work.
It is a slightly morbid thought, but I was motivated by seeing my Grandad deteriorate because of his Alzheimer's disease making me want to make the most of the time I have now. I have been a big believer of living in the now, don’t wait for life to happen.
So, to that end, I am proud to have taken the leap and am now fully self-sufficient and working full-time for myself at Nathan Bull Osteopathy.
I will be available Mondays and Thursdays 8:00 till 20:00 with my Tuesday and Wednesday availability being 9:00 till 13:00 and 15:00 till 19:00 respectively. I hope that I will be able to offer further availability as these new days become more popular.
I hope 2026 is bringing you, your family and friends’ prosperity, laughs and fulfilment. And maybe a little less rain…
Thanks for reading.
Until next month…
Motion Forword ⏩⏩
Nathan