16/05/2019
It's gonna be a long one...
To avoid being displaced by computers, physiotherapists must allow themselves to be displaced by computers.
Yesterday I spent my day a the MIXII biomed conference and this sentence about radiologists was presented at Sabar health care services lecture. Our major fear, as health professionals, is to be conquered by technology and becoming irrelevant.
But technology is here, there's no way to stop it and it often does makes us irrelevant.
Machines can already see, think and process better than us.
The best way to deal with it, is to collaborate with the change. I'll add another part to the sentence and say that you need to let yourself be displaced by machines, so you'll be able to really concentrate on bringing your added value to the equation.
In the physio world, I believe that this added value is hidden in our touch. And I'll explain. When touching the patient, there are two sides that benefit.
First, the physio. You feel the tissue, the bodies subtext, often not spoken in words, reaction to the treatment. I find that one of the hardest things in the clinic is to express in words what my hands feel, although touching gives me huge amount of information. It let's me communicate with the patient's body, as philosophic as it may sound.
Second, and most important, the patient. Numerous researchers have been proven that touch has pain relieving qualities. Some will say it's because of neurological processes, some because of mechanical changes we make to the body and tissues, some will put it all on the emotional aspect and some will call it all placebo, with a disrespectful tone.
I believe in two things. The first is that we don't know and we can't know at the moment. With current research tools, we can't measure our touchs' effect. The second, is that it doesn't matter. It is probably a complex mixture of all aspects.
The way I see it, clinic is way ahead of research, and if my patients get relief in pain and function is improving, I need to stick with what I'm doing even if I don't fully understand, or mistaking in my thesis.
I hate seeing physios neglecting touch due to research refuting it's effectiveness in certain fields.
Trust your hands, trust your guts and trust the patient. Work hard on your touch and deep sensation abilities. These are qualities that machines are still far away from having.
