The New Grad Physio Podcast

On the face of it the subjective assessment looks easy. You ask your patient a series of simple questions... They respond... And this gives you a fair idea about what is going on with your patient... Then you use your objective assessment to test this out and rule in or rule out this hypothesis. Sound about right? If only it was that easy! This is what you were told at University is meant to happen... But the reality is, real-life patients simply do not act like the textbooks and lecturers said they would! Most new grads think they do a good job of the subjective assessment, but most make some simple, yet critical errors... That cause them to make the wrong diagnosis and focus on the wrong patient problems. In this week's podcast episode I will give you two top tips that will help you with your subjective assessment... So you can clearly make sense of your patients symptoms... And have the confidence to give your patient the correct diagnosis... Even as a young and inexperienced physio. Enjoy the show! PS. I'd love to hear what you think of the podcast. Please leave a review or even better, share the podcast with any physio you think it could help! PPS. As well as links to all my previous podcasts I have loads more FREE to access learning resources on my website. Head here to access them right now... www.newgradphysio.com

Why do physio's overcomplicate things? We make what should be a simple process, to assess, treat and rehab patients, far more complex than it needs to be! Everyone is chasing the 1% er's. Those magic tests, techniques and rehab exercises. You know the ones... They pop up on your instagram account almost daily. These techniques and exercises can be great and can help your patients... But only if you understand how to use them and only use them when you have found a patient problem that requires that specific solution. I talk about this issue in this week's podcast episode, whilst picking out the big takeaways from my recent in-person lower and upper limb course days. Enjoy the show! PS. I'd love to hear what you think of the podcast. Please leave a review or even better, share the podcast with any physio you think it could help!
 PPS. As well as links to all my previous podcasts I have loads more FREE to access learning resources on my website. Head here to access them right now... www.newgradphysio.com

It probably is not what you think... And I almost guarantee that you are making this BIG mistake too as a new grad physio! Learn what this big mistake is and why you need to avoid it if you want to get consistent positive patient results, with even complex pain patients... Even as a young and inexperienced therapist! Enjoy the show! Andy The New Grad Physio Mentor PS. I'd love to hear what you think of the podcast. Please leave a review or even better, share the podcast with any of your physio friends if you think it could help them too! PPS. Want to come learn in person how to plan and execute a rehab programme, from start to finish, for any any lower limb or upper limb patient, then come and join me on one of my in-person courses. Find out more ⁠here

Probably the biggest area I see new grads struggling with when rehabbing their patients, is knowing when to progress (and regress) rehab. If you progress any patient too quickly, regardless of their injury, they will break down. Their symptoms will flare up and they will be back in your clinic asking you why. They might get bored and stop doing their rehab or even worse... Just not come back for their next appointment because they do not think you are the right person to help fix their problem. Putting together a rehab plan for even more complex pain patients does not need to be rocket science. You just need to know the next logical step your patient needs to take to get them back to full fitness, smoothly, timely and without the fear that they will break down again. Learn how to do this in this week's podcast episode! Enjoy the show! PS. I'd love to hear what you think of the podcast. Please leave a review or even better, share the podcast with any of your physio friends if you think it could help them too! PPS. Want to come learn in person how to plan and execute a rehab programme, from start to finish, for any any lower limb or upper limb patient, then come and join me on one of my in-person courses. Find out more here.

I used to think that strength needed to be the focus of every rehab programme I wrote. I made the mistake of on spending too much time trying to get my patients and athletes stronger… Thinking it would ‘fix’ everything. It helped a lot of patient but, there were always some, that I could just not seem to help... No matter how hard I tried or how much stronger they got! They’d usual be progressing well through their rehab, but then would break down. This was usually when I progressed them to higher level activities like running or allowed them to return to sport. Their symptoms would come back quick, often much faster than they had gone away and often much worse… And I had no idea why! There is much more to rehab than just getting your patient, or athlete, strong. Thankfully I worked out what I had been missing. This meant I was able to stop patients breaking down and it changed my whole philosophy about how I now rehab the patients and athletes I see. Listen to this week’s podcast episode to learn what you might be missing when you write your rehab programmes. Hear about a athlete I struggled with a few years back… And what you need to know (and do) to stop your own patients breaking down when you step up their rehab. Enjoy the show! PS. I'd love to hear what you think of the podcast. Please leave a review or even better, share the podcast with any physio you think it could help! PPS. As well as links to all my previous podcasts I have loads more FREE to access learning resources on my website. Head here to access them right now... www.newgradphysio.com

Just because you have been taught a certain way to do something and it is what you have always done, does not mean it is right! This is never more apparent than with manual muscle testing!!! You know that Oxford Strength Scale you use... Where you score patients from 0-5 having tested their muscle strength... You use this all the time, right? But did you know it is was actually designed to assess neuro patients NOT MSK patients... And that it has major flaws in it's application... Which can be a major reason why you are not able to find the right diagnosis and be able to help your patient get back to full fitness! I use a different method to test strength and when you listen to this week's podcast episode you might also choose to do the same! Enjoy the show! PS. I'd love to hear what you think of the podcast. Please leave a review or even better, share the podcast with any physio you think it could help! PPS. As well as links to all my previous podcasts I have loads more FREE to access learning resources on my website. Head here to access them right now... www.newgradphysio.com

Many new grads struggle to get on top of patients with hip pain. You know the story... Your patient is progressing well, their hip pain has gone, they have full hip range of movement and can squat and lunge pain-free... You even got them to do some higher level rehab like some hops, and they did these easily and pain-free. But... No sooner had their symptoms gone away, as soon as you you allowed them to start back in the gym or start running, they break down again! How frustrating is this, for both you and your patient!!! Listen to this week's podcast episode to discover this mistake, so you can avoid making it yourself with your own patients... And learn what you need to do differently to stop this happening to you and your patients again in the future! PS. I'd love to hear what you think of the podcast. Please leave a review or even better, share the podcast with any physio you think it could help! PPS. As well as links to all my previous podcasts I have loads more FREE to access learning resources on my website. Head here to access them right now... www.newgradphysio.com

Think about those patients that just seem to break down for no reason. There is no history of trauma in their story... But they just woke up one day with hip pain. How does this even happen? This week's podcast will tell you why! And even better than that... I'll discuss what you need to do about to help your patients with hip problems get out of pain and back to full fitness... And how to stop the pain coming faster than it went away! Enjoy the show! Andy The New Grad Physio Mentor PS. Want to learn more about hip pain? Join me on my FREE Hip Pain Webinar. Just hit the link above to register your place. Missed it? Don't worry...you can get access here.

Seeing real-life case studies can be a great way to practice your assessment skills. Here you can ‘see’ a patient, review their assessment findings and clinically reason what you would do in the same situation... All without having the pressure of having the patient stood there right in front of you in your clinic room! So even if you get it wrong the first time, you will see (and learn) what you need to do instead… If you are faced with a real patient with a similar symptoms in the future. Listen to a knee case study this week’s podcast episode. Note down the assessment findings and then have a go at answering these questions… What else might you include in your objective assessment to help you identify the correct patient diagnosis? What do you think could be a possible diagnosis for the medial knee pain this patient is complaining of? Enjoy the show! Andy Barker. PS. This is the exact case study (and questions) I posed to members of my New Grad Physio Membership earlier this week. Want to know more about my membership and learn how to get access to weekly case studies like this, plus a whole host of other great content, then head here… www.newgradphysio.com/membership

Do you ever feel you are just going through the motions when assessing the knee... And completing special tests even though you can not really reason why you are doing them? This is really common for new grads, and largely not your fault, as you are just following the method you were taught at Uni. But... This method of doing things is the quickest way to the wrong patient diagnosis and maybe even worse than that... An angry and frustrated patient, that just wants a diagnosis and wants you to stop doing unnecessary tests with their knee that make their knee pain worse! Find out why most new grads get it wrong with their knee special testing... And what you need to do instead to nail your diagnosis and keep your patient happy (and out of pain)! Enjoy the show! PS. I'd love to hear what you think of the podcast. Please leave a review or even better, share the podcast with any physio you think it could help! PPS. As well as links to all my previous podcasts I have loads more FREE to access learning resources on my website. Head here to access them right now... www.newgradphysio.com