Do you assess your clients with a focus on posture, structure and anatomy? Or do you assess with a focus on understanding the person who has come to you for assistance? There is an approach to healthcare called Multidisciplinary Biopsychosocial Rehabilitation or MBR. What is that you ask? Well, we will explain.

It is very easy to slip into an approach towards care where we “mechanise” our clients. In an attempt to focus on objective assessments such as posture, range of motion or strength we can forget that we are working with a real-live human being.

Whatever our belief is, or our chosen model for healthcare, there is one simple truth we can’t go past. The more we use a style of communication that seeks to understand and motivate our clients or patients, the more likely our clients are to engage in their own healthcare.

Understanding the Person

We should spend us much time as we can understanding the person as we do assessing their biomechanics. Why? Because we know that assessment and communication that seeks to understand, engage and empower leads to greater program compliance and engagement. Meaning, the client does more to help themselves.

And what’s the best exercise or self-care program?  The one the client or patient actually does!

Put this Into Practice

Try this one simple process: identify movements, exercises or activities that your client does or wants to do better. Ask them to perform these movements so that you can understand them better. Instead of informing them how they should be doing it, first understand and get a lesson in how your client moves. Become engaged in learning about them, validate them first, then seek to identify ways to improve on what they are doing.

When you understand your client well, then you are in a much better position to offer advice.

Want to Learn More

Are you looking to learn more on how to integrate biomechanical assessment with better communication?

Those who attended the Massage and Myotherapy Conference in Canberra in May 2019, might have seen my workshop on this topic.

Multidisciplinary biopsychosocial rehabilitation (MBR) might sound like a mouthful, but it is a thing. Here is a study that talks about MBR and the positive impact on Low Back Pain (LBP).