An idle New Year's day YouTube browse of Karen Middleton's centenary lecture at the Physiotherapy UK 2014 conference, and an amusing video of a partly naked dancing man have got me reflecting on my small involvement in the pioneering world of Young Adult Hip conditions.
What it is like to attempt to make absurd clinical suggestions to the physiotherapy profession (as somebody who is rather close to the bottom of the hierarchy!)? Well... a bit of a mixed bag if I'm honest.
For example: I felt really silly on my MSK placement for even suggesting (as a student!) that it might be important in a physio role to be pernickity about how pelvis xrays in young adults with hip pain are reported. I have felt like a loon at times for suggesting that patients with unexplained hip pain might need to be referred to an entirely different part of the country to gain an accurate and definitive diagnosis and treatment plan. These ideas are totally unconventional and the reasoning behind them only fully being understood by those with experience of these hip conditions in person or in practice.
I mean, it's not like I'm a particularly distinguished expert or something, I'm just one small person in this; there are other clincians out there (with way more knowledge and experience than me) - and of course, hundreds and thousands of patients who'd agree with these suggestions, but it definitely seems to go against the grain in practice at ground level. I am grateful for the advice of some very wise people in my life in different settings to keep my tendency for outspokenness in check. Balancing audacity with meekness is an ever present lesson - something I have a lot to learn about.
I also applaud anyone who is able to gather academics, clinicians and patients in one room together who come from a huge array of fields, to discuss the issues for those with paediatric and young adult hip conditions (these instigators being some of the cooler in-crowd dancing people in this analogy). It's daunting to have so many different factors needing to be addressed and such a small evidence-base to work from to begin with. And it certainly doesn't feel heroic when there aren't throngs of people present and when the pressing demands of life and other work commitments crowd in. But I believe that small beginnings aren't always bad.
So, basically, what I'm saying is: pioneering things is not always as romantic as it looks in the movies. It's a bit weird, and doesn't always get a favourable response, but can still, in time, hopefully lead to change.
Time for me to go and make some New Year's day pancakes...
Reference:
CSP (2014) "Learning to Lead" Karen Middleton. Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiEI-6anQGw
