Life is a story.
Or maybe it’s better to say, stories are the way we experience life.
You can know facts (like the causes or treatments of sciatica), but you can’t understand what they mean or put them to use without creating a story (you helping a particular person who has sciatica).
It’s the difference between reading a textbook and doing your first clinical.
You learn really quickly that you don’t know much of anything until you start doing it.
Keep this in mind as you interact with patients.
They need to know the facts about PT, sure, but more importantly, they need to understand what it will mean for their particular situation.
They need to hear a story.
That means your job is to tell them a compelling one (and then make it come true).
All stories have the same basic elements.
Think of any great movie you’ve seen or book you’ve read.
The main character has some problem or flaw which creates a crisis in their life.
They go about trying to solve it, often failing several times, until they meet an older, wiser mentor or guide who shows them the problem and how they can solve it.
Though still facing challenges, the hero learns, with the guide’s help, not only how to overcome the crisis and defeat the enemy, but also how to resolve their deeper problems and flaws, becoming a better person in the process.
If you can put the story of your practice in this format, it will instantly resonate with your patients and help them understand the value you provide.
However, it’s important to keep this in mind: YOU ARE NOT THE HERO!
In this story, your patient is the hero of their own life.
They have problems (poor habits, muscle imbalances, trauma) that cause a crisis (terrible sciatica pain), and they are searching for answers (often without success).
They need a guide who can show them what is truly wrong and help them blow up the Death Star, destroy the One Ring, marry the prince, or whatever else they want to do.
At the end of it, they want to know they achieve a happy ending and become a better person, healthier, more resilient, more capable of preventing or handling the next crisis.
Do you see how you fit into this story?
You are the guide.
Your patients are wandering, looking for help.
Offer to guide them on a real journey from pain and dysfunction to health and freedom.
If you do, they won’t just understand what you do and how it can help.
They’ll follow wherever you lead.