You are your own health advocate, or you should be...
"No one will care as much as you do"
I heard this a lot in school when it comes to business or the reason why people are in pain. It took me a few years for it to really sink in. Do I want people to care as much as I do, yes, but I now understand the why behind their injuries does not really mean much. Most people have other things in their life to worry about and remember. They want to know the basic information around the injury; however, they really want to know what they can do to fix it. Don’t get me wrong, there are people that want to know the nitty gritty, and I love going down rabbit holes with them, but this is not a daily thing in the office.
You may be wondering why I am talking about this… “No one cares as much as you do” applies to everything in life that you are passionate about, I would say even more so when it comes to your body and health. Everyone should have some passion for taking care of themselves to live a long, high quality life.
When people come into the office, I do my best to understand how they are feeling, yet the only thing I am able to relate to is my own previous injuries. I do not know how much it hurts, or that they cannot do the activities they love doing. This makes it difficult to relate to what they are going through. Talking about their injuries can give me some insight but I will still not know EXACTLY how they feel.
This why you need to be your own best health advocate. You must talk to your providers, ask questions, dig into why they are doing specific treatments or why they have done the same treatment 10 times in a row with no progress.
Being your own health advocate and caring more than anyone else means you will have to put in the work to get better. No one will “fix” you. You have to be willing to break habits that got you were you are at this moment. Then you will have to rebuild new habits that get you closer to where you want to be. If anyone says they can “fix” you they are full of crap. Yes, they may be able to help you get on the right track, but you must put in the work to get to your goals.
Only you can fix yourself. It takes time and hard work but in the end it will be worth it.
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