See what I did there? Oh, nevermind.

Having been practicing in the field of sports injury rehabilitation for the last nine years, I've spoken to, assessed and treated hundreds of people for varying injuries and pain conditions. While it is a serious thing to be dealing with someone's health, I also think every job should have its lighter moments and sometimes we all need to have a little giggle. It's healthy!

Recently, I was treating a client who was a walking, talking illustration of all of the funny things our clients say and do during their appointments. This got me wanting to write some of them down and share them with you, to see if you agree or have any others you'd like to share.

Pronunciation

There are a couple of words that patients consistently struggle to pronounce. The most regular for me, has to be ibuprofen. "I-Broo-Fen" is a common mispronunciation, as is "I-Bura-Fen."

Another slippery one is the good old rotator cuff, which often becomes rotary, rotor or even rotisserie (think chicken) cuff. Sometimes it's not even a cuff, it's a cup don't you know. I also have a colleague who once had a client confuse their labrum with a labia. Now you wouldn't want to do that.

I'm sure many of you will have come across the same errors, and in the most part I don't worry about correcting them unless I think it affects their understanding of their injury or treatment. It just seems a bit nitpicky and no one likes a know-it-all.

Could you lay on your front please?

For such a simple request, this happens at least twice a week. It's amazing the number of times I'll ask someone to lay on their back/front, and I come back to find them the other way up. In fact, I've taken to saying "lay on your front — face down" or "on your back — face-up" just to try and clarify the request. Sometimes though, even this doesn't work.

But if I'm honest with you, when the shoe's been on the other foot, I've done it too. There must be something that makes our brains go a little fuzzy when we are a patient, maybe it's nerves or apprehension, so that the simplest of instructions baffles our common sense. I've even had people come in for a back massage and then lay on their back (face-up).

Was it broken or just fractured?

I personally love this one. I have had clients previously insist that their ankle wasn't broken, it was just fractured. In this case, I do tend to correct them, as I think it can be important to understand that something described to you in the ER as a fracture is in fact just as "bad" as if the doctor had called it a break.

Boasts

I frequently hear, in response to "let me know if this is too painful," "it's OK, I have a high pain threshold." Now, I'm not saying that the uttering of such words is like laying down a challenge, but sometimes there is an ounce of temptation (resisted of course) to press just that little bit harder.

Another good boast I often hear is "I heal quickly." There is a smidge of truth in this statement, in that young, fit and healthy people may heal a little quicker than someone older, with poor general fitness, an inadequate diet or a chronic illness. But generally speaking, one healthy, fit person will heal at the same rate as another healthy, fit person. The progression of healing is a fairly standardized process.

The worst they'd seen

I regularly see clients for sports or deep tissue massage who have previously seen an aromatherapy or Swedish (for example) massage therapist, maybe at a beauty salon or spa. Either during or after, the therapist has told the client that they have one of the tightest backs they have ever worked on and that they need some deep-tissue massage.

When the client then comes to me, they relay this nugget of information with a look of such pride, which always has me struggling to stifle a grin. This also happens with GP's who have apparently "never seen such a bad (whatever) injury." Sometimes you wonder if the client perhaps would like a certificate to honor their achievement in having the worst condition.

Anymore?

Are there any other little one-liners or actions you see regularly in your practice that tickle you? Please feel free to share below.

This article is designed to simply be a little light reading for those in the physical therapy field. It is by no means aimed to mock our patients, who should not be expected to know or understand anatomical or medical jargon, any more than they would expect us to understand the complexities of their professions.

I know other professionals have similar lists of the sometimes silly questions and comments they hear on a regular basis. I hope you can relate to it and finish reading it with a smile on your face.