Words can change the way a person thinks, feels, and performs. I have had people tell me:
“My doctor told me that my spine is degenerating”
“My chiropractor told me that my back is so bad they are surprised that I’m not in a wheelchair”
“My physiotherapist told me that my knee arthritis is due to wear and tear and it is bone on bone”
I am sure hearing this would be worrisome. This type of wording may cause you to avoid activity, at all cost, out of fear of breaking down even more. You may become depressed because you have no control of the situation and the life you once enjoyed is over. This isn’t healthy for your joints or your overall health.
This type of talk in the office should be avoided. Positive, confidence building, communication should be spoken to patients.
But what about swearing in the office?
Swearing is a taboo in most situations in society. It is socially unacceptable to swear in public. During my athletic therapy internship we used to have athletes pay the swear jar if they swore in the clinic. I even had one athlete come in and drop a 20 dollar bill in the jar because he knew he was going to swear. Nowadays, I am not that worried about swearing in the office, as long as it is within the walls of the treatment room.
As a matter of fact swearing may be beneficial for your recovery from your pain/injury.
All of my patients are coming from different walks of life. They deal with stress differently. Swearing may be one of these ways. And this is ok with me. In a private clinical setting, allowing for swearing may improve the chiropractor-patient therapeutic alliance. Research has shown that improving this therapeutic alliance improves patients’ social pains and their musculoskeletal pains.
Swearing during a painful activity also helps with managing pain. A research study that had people put their hand in cold water as long as they could found that those who swore were able to hold their hand in the water for 40s longer. It seems that those who don’t swear often benefit the most with swearing. So if I am treating you and it is painful it is ok to swear. It may help you tolerate it better.
There is evidence that swearing out loud can also increase physical performance. Swearing every three seconds during a 30 second, maximum effort, cycling test resulted in greater levels of peak power and average power compared to repeating a non-swear word. Swearing also resulted in greater maximum grip strength.
What is the best kind of swear word?
Likely the best word would be the word you’d do when you bang your head on something. But it can’t be something that is made up. Like diddly ding dong cr@p; unless you are Ned Flanders.
So it’s ok if you want to swear during our treatment. It may actually help.
Just don’t swear at me or my staff.
Originally posted on May 17, 2022 @ 4:38 pm