You are a physical therapist. You have been helping a client conquer their knee pain. He wants to return to running but he hasn’t been able to walk without pain for three months. You have helped him finally break through and he has been walking without pain for the past week.
Now, he comes limping in to his appointment. “It felt so good I went running and now I am hurting again.”
“How far did you run?”
“Five miles.”
Five days walking without a limp and he thinks a five mile run sounds like the right thing to do.
What did the patient do? He experienced a temporary reduction in IQ. He is a smart person but he was stupid for a moment. What should you do as a therapist?
First, don’t call him stupid. Acknowledge that he did more than his tissues can handle.
Second, map out his return to running. He needs a criteria-based program of progression. When he can do three sets of 30 lateral step downs holding 20 pounds in his opposite arm without pain, he can run a mile. After he runs a mile five times without pain, he can run two miles.
If A, then B.
If he fails to follow the plan, he doesn’t have a temporary reduction in IQ. He is just dumb.
Good luck,
Tom