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Writer's pictureNathan Bull

Motion Forword - Words of a Therapist - No15

Welcome to Motion Forword - Words of a Therapist! Number 15! 



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 - Social Media Detox


Have you ever had a thing that you’ve known you should stop because it’ll do you good? But you’ve consistently struggled to start stopping?


Mine has been getting off social media. I’ve known for a long time it doesn’t do me any good. I’m sure many of us can testify to losing hours to ‘doom scrolling’ and wondered where the hell the time went. 



It is in my opinion at best procrastination and at worst, mentally damaging. 


It is quite an interesting feeling noticing how much more time I have since I deleted Instagram off my phone. I haven’t ‘disabled’ it as that would mean people wouldn’t be able to find my work Instagram profile (clever way to keep you there). 


But I haven’t looked at it for some weeks now. It’s probably too soon to say, but I like to think I feel better for it. It can’t be doing any harm, right?


I still have my avenues for engaging with friends and family (the people that actually matter in my personal life) through pure messaging apps without the distraction of scrolling through the next trend that will hold our attention for a few million seconds. 


I do still notice myself idly picking up my phone… but that’s as far as it goes. I’ve broken the habit loop. Not having the app means I put the phone back down and actually pay attention to what I am doing there and then, rather than being distracted by my black mirror. 


I don’t have any FOMO (fear of missing out) because I engage with the people I want to spend time with and arrange it through normal channels. Text and calling are still a thing! 


So if you are one of those that admits to spending an hour or so a day (my average was 44mins/day according to Instagram) on social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat etc etc then consider getting off of it. 


You might find you reclaim some of your life back. 


Something for you - Why is my problem sticking around?


In the realms of musculoskeletal care (and medicine in general) we have rough guides of ‘how long is X going to take to get better’. This is called a prognosis. A prognosis is based on studies that look at large groups of people with a particular problem and look at how long it took for them to get better*.


* How much better and how that is qualified varies from study to study. They will often also compare a treatment method with controls to see if the treatment helps speed things up.


This gives us an average time frame for a problem to improve. 


For example, acute lower back pain is 2-6 weeks but can last up to 3 months or more whilst adhesive capsulitis (or frozen shoulder) can take as long as 12 months to 3 years or more. Hence the emphasis on rough guides!


So why these widely varying time frames? Why is the ‘average’ still pretty vague? 


These questions are good ones but tricky to answer as it involves the complex interplay of biological, social and psychological factors that influence us as human beings. 


And of course, as no one would argue, there are more than 8.1 billion of us on this planet with no two people the same. 


So naturally, how we as individuals acquire, respond and recover from a problem can be very different.


So what kind of things might cause your problem to stick around and not recover in the expected time frame? 


Things that might lead to a condition lasting longer than expected can be described as ‘maintaining’ factors. For example: 


  • Comorbidities - obesity, heart disease, pulmonary disease, kidney disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions, cancer, etc. These comorbidities draw valuable resources (energy, immune cells, protein, minerals/vitamins) to deal with them. Not to mention the treatment for these can often be radical and prolonged.

  • Lifestyle Factors - smoking, excessive/binge drinking, sedentariness, social isolation, unbalanced/poor dietary choices, work:life balance etc. Whilst comorbidities drain your resources, such negative lifestyle choices mean you have fewer resources to begin with. 

  • The Pain itself - a pain that has been around longer has been of high intensity and may have multiple sites tends to mean it will stick around longer (but not always true). 

  • Psychological factors - anxiety, depression, fear, worry, low mood, stress. A lot like comorbidities, it can be an extra weight on an already struggling system.

  • Poor Pain Self-efficacy - this is the idea that you feel you cannot do things whilst in pain. This may lead to behaviour that doesn’t support a healthy/quicker recovery like keeping active, maintaining a rehabilitation course, socialising and eating well.  

  • Past Experience - if a similar experience was poorly dealt with and has left you with physical and/or psychological scars you may feel less prepared/more worried to deal with a recurrence. 



Hopefully you can imagine the extra resources required (or lost) as a result of the above means your body has less in reserve to recover from an injury or painful condition and perhaps more likely to last longer. 


On top of all of that, in my personal experience with patients, things take longer than we’d like and impatience and frustration starts to settle in. 


So what can you do? 


There is no short answer to this but it could boil down to this:


Persistence, Positivity, and Patience.


Persistence - follow your therapist's advice and treatment plan if you feel it is serving you well. They are there to guide you through the gloom and help you solve difficulties that you come up against. If you have concerns then share them and create a plan together. There is unlikely to be a one trick pony that you can saddle!


PMA - Positive Mental Attitude - it is something of a mantra now. Seeing the brighter side, seeing the glass half full and looking at how far you’ve come. This serves to boost you when you are struggling and keep the frustration and stress to a minimum. Allowing yourself to be overcome by fear, doubt and stress about your problem has never helped anyone. 


Patience - Sooner or later, things do get better, trust the process. Unless the first two points aren’t being done. Don’t expect things to change if nothing changes. In this case, two negatives don’t make a positive. 



A Story - A(nother) New Chapter


Come the start of November, I would have been at the White Building for two years. 


When I left my previous location in Totton it felt like a very positive move to something better in Southampton City Centre. 


This time it will be even greater as I move on from the White Building to PhysioSTAR. 


Isn't Karol such a dream boat!

My new office!


Karol at PhysioSTAR has created a purpose-built clinic with excellent facilities for your performance and rehabilitation needs (and it’s got parking!). 


Karol and I believe we complement each other seamlessly for the betterment of our patients, able to support each other in our weakness (not that there are many) and propel our strengths (like our modesty). 


It’s going to be an exciting transition as I move location but I will expect some hiccups so please bare with me. Dates to be mindful of: Thursday 31st October 2024 - last clinic date in the White Building.

Monday 4th November 2024 -  all Southampton based treatments will be held at PhysioSTAR from and including this date. 


The full address is: Unit 2, Ground Floor, Mountbatten Business Centre, Millbrook Rd E, Southampton SO15 1HY



Red Arrow is PhysioSTAR, Blue Arrow is my current location at the White Building


When the time comes, future appointment notifications will reflect the new address and parking information. And queries or concerns, please contact me @ contact@nathanbullosteopathy.co.uk (Remember, I am not contactable via social media anymore!) 


Thanks for reading.


Until next month…Motion Forword ⏩⏩


Nathan


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