The New Grad Physio Podcast

Santa Claus is super smart. This podcast episode has some jovial comparisons... But some really important messages that can help you become a better therapist. Listen to find out what they are right now! Enjoy the show! PS. Andy would love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Please leave a review or get in touch at andy@newgradphysio.com and he will get right back to you. To get a copy of Andy’s book ‘How To Become A Competent, Confident & Competitive New Grad Physio’ or to access ALL his FREE learning resources visit… www.newgradphysio.com

You use it or you lose it! The longer you go without putting what you know into action the worse you actually get at applying what you do know. This might be your patient handling, special testing or your hands-on treatments. It could be how you communicate a diagnosis and prognosis to a patient... Or how to design a rehab plan for a lower back, shoulder or knee injury. That's why you do CPD isn't it? To keep your skills sharp and knowledge up to date. This week's podcast episode discusses the importance of the 'right' CPD to help ensure you do not waste your time, effort and £££ on the wrong CPD content or courses. Enjoy the show! PS. Andy would love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Please leave a review or get in touch at andy@newgradphysio.com and he will get right back to you. To get a copy of Andy’s book ‘How To Become A Competent, Confident & Competitive New Grad Physio’ or to access ALL his FREE learning resources visit… www.newgradphysio.com

If you get to the end of the subjective assessment and you do not have a firm hypothesis of what might be happening, then something has gone wrong. Even with complex cases, or patients with more than one issue, you should be able to identify a probable cause of the patients problem... Then you can use your objective assessment to prove or disprove this cause. The subjective is so important, probably the most important part of what you do as a therapist, because everything else you do after this is reliant on a good subjective assessment. But it is something that many new grads struggle with. In this week's podcast discover 3 tips to help you nail your subjective assessment to ensure you find the right patient problem, so you can progress with the confidence you are treating the right thing. Enjoy the show! PS. Andy would love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Please leave a review or get in touch at andy@newgradphysio.com and he will get right back to you. To get a copy of Andy’s book ‘How To Become A Competent, Confident & Competitive New Grad Physio’ or to access ALL his FREE learning resources visit… www.newgradphysio.com

There are many things that I would do differently if I had my time again. Everything I do now is a million miles away from what I did when I first graduated back in 2010. I guess looking back I was just doing what I had been taught at University and using the stuff I had picked up on my placements. But I quickly learned that when I first graduated what I knew at the time was not going to cut it in the real world. My private practice patients were paying me their hard earned cash to get fixed… And the athletes I was working with wanted to be back on the pitch ‘yesterday’ and the pressure from the coaches was immense. It was a sharp learning curve and littered with mistakes. Since graduating back in 2010 I have learnt so much. Looking back, 99% of the problems I had as a new grad were brought on by myself and were unnecessary. If I had my time again I would do things very differently. Learn from my biggest mistakes in this week's podcast episode. Enjoy the show! PS. Andy would love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Please leave a review or get in touch at andy@newgradphysio.com and he will get right back to you. To get a copy of Andy’s book ‘How To Become A Competent, Confident & Competitive New Grad Physio’ or to access ALL his FREE learning resources visit… www.newgradphysio.com

Lower back injuries can be challenging and if not managed well you can easily flare up patient symptoms. You know all your red flag questions and have practiced your neuro assessments (dermatomes, myotomes and reflexes) over and over again… But when it comes to doing it for real you still feel something is missing and you second guess yourself. In this week's episode you will discover a top tip to help you quickly differentially diagnose a patient's lower back problem and know exactly where to start with your hands-on treatment techniques and rehab... Without fear that you will flare their symptoms up. Enjoy the show! PS. Andy would love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Please leave a review or get in touch at andy@newgradphysio.com and he will get right back to you. To get a copy of Andy’s book ‘How To Become A Competent, Confident & Competitive New Grad Physio’ or to access ALL his FREE learning resources visit… www.newgradphysio.com

The shoulder is notoriously difficult to manage. It can be tricky to know what the best questions to ask during your subjective assessment are… Or what special tests to use to differently diagnose different shoulder problems... Or where you should start with your patient’s rehab... And the best exercises to use to keep your patients shoulder pain from returning. I guarantee that you are overcomplicating your assessments, treatments and rehab when managing shoulder problems. The biggest mistakes usually happen during rehab and in this week’s podcast you will discover what you are doing wrong and what you need to do instead to get better results with the shoulder pain patients you work with. Enjoy the show! PS. Andy would love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Please leave a review or get in touch at andy@newgradphysio.com and he will get right back to you. To get a copy of Andy’s book ‘How To Become A Competent, Confident & Competitive New Grad Physio’ or to access ALL his FREE learning resources visit… www.newgradphysio.com

Life as a new grad is always harder than you anticipated. You quickly learn that University did not prepare you for the patients and their problems that you are being now asked to fix up.  The expectations from patients and senior colleagues are much greater now… And having lost that safety blanket you had as a student, you are now expected to know what you are doing and have all the answers. You know that you need to keep on top of your CPD to keep progressing and learning... But finding the time to do this can feel almost impossible.  But this can’t happen if you want to keep progressing and getting better results with the patients or athletes that you work with. Listen to this week’s episode to find out why this is a real issue and what to do to fix this issue up to get ahead… And without wasting your time, effort and money on the wrong CPD.  Enjoy the show! PS. Andy would love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Please leave a review or get in touch at andy@newgradphysio.com and he will get right back to you. To get a copy of Andy’s book ‘How To Become A Competent, Confident & Competitive New Grad Physio’ or to access ALL his FREE learning resources visit… www.newgradphysio.com

As a physio there is not much worse than patient’s not doing their rehab. You give your patient the exercises to help them get better… But for whatever reason they don’t do them. Maybe it’s a lack of time… Or they forgot what you told them to do… But whatever it is, you know that if they don’t start buying in to the rehab plan, then they are not going to improve. And these type of patients are always the same patients that start questioning you why they are not getting better after the first few sessions! Doing your hands-on treatment techniques on a patient can help reduce pain and improve range of movement, sometimes even improve strength, but it is the rehab that fixes the problem 9/10 and stops the problem coming back. Maybe you label your patients ‘lazy’ and question if they actually want to get better. After all, if they did surely they would do their rehab exercises like you asked. But in most cases the reason patients do not do their rehab is not their fault… But your fault! Find out why this is the case and what you need to do differently to get your patients to actually stick to their rehab plan... And start getting better! Enjoy the show! PS. Andy would love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Please leave a review or get in touch at andy@newgradphysio.com and he will get right back to you. To get a copy of Andy’s book ‘How To Become A Competent, Confident & Competitive New Grad Physio’ or to access ALL his FREE learning resources visit… www.newgradphysio.com

From the outset my new grad journey might look like a dream... Gaining my dream job as the Head Physio at the Leeds Rhinos less than 15 months after graduating. At the time they were the top team in the country, having just one that years Grand Final and having won 4 of the last 5 championships. This was a big job! But it wasn't all rosy, far from it. Those early times as a new grad were littered with errors, mistakes and those imposter feelings we all get as a new grad. I remember each and every mistake I made like it was yesterday. Those feelings of being inadequate and incompetent I'm not sure you ever forget how bad they make you feel. Check out this short video to hear my most embarrassing new grad stories newgradphysio.com/embarassing-new-grad-story/ PS. Have an embarrassing story of your own? Let me know by sending me a DM on my socials or contact me at andy@newgradphysio.com and whatever your problem, I'll get right back to you with some help.

What is the best way to manage an athlete or patient following a concussion? All the recent evidence around concussion points towards a safe, but early return to exercise, and not a prolonged rest period, that was previously prescribed. It is important that the exercise you prescribe does not heighten patient symptoms, especially in the early stages, but like any other injury we need to load the injured area to help it recover (in concussion this means the brain). During the early stages of recovery following a concussive injury, moderate rest is still important, but what the evidence is showing is that this period of ‘rest’ is becoming shorter and that longer duration rest can actually cause more harm than good. Concussion research is ever evolving so if you work with deal with concussions then keeping up to date with the current evidence is key. To help you out, check out this podcast episode where you will discover the 5 top treatment options you can use with the patients or athletes following a concussion. Enjoy the show! PS. Andy would love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Please leave a review or get in touch at andy@newgradphysio.com and he will get right back to you. To get a copy of Andy’s book ‘How To Become A Competent, Confident & Competitive New Grad Physio’ or to access ALL his FREE learning resources visit… www.newgradphysio.com