I Don't Take Orders From Your PT

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Recently I was talking to my friend who is a pilates teacher. She told me about one of her clients who said something like, “My PT said we should be doing this exercise to strengthen…” My friend stopped her and said, “I’m not your PT’s assistant. I don’t take orders from her.” My eyes got wide with admiration. Why haven’t I ever said that?

I’ve been in that situation a time or two. Once I had a client tell me I couldn’t work on his leg in a certain way because it was counteracting what his PT was doing. Haven’t you been seeing your PT for 15 years? And you still have back pain and hip pain? Okay. No problem. I guess you don’t want to change.

These interactions can go the other direction too. Another client repeatedly told me their doctor wanted to “make sure” I worked on the scar tissue in their stomach. I will work on the scar tissue. In fact, there is a whole session dedicated to the belly. But all the sessions leading up to it prepare the belly to be directly worked on—they are necessary. So yes, I will indirectly work on the scar tissue from your legs, ribs, hips, and arms, and I will also work on it directly. Many times even. But in the context of structural integration. I will not just poke around in your belly because that’s what your doctor said you need.

I know as the consumer it can be confusing when one person tells you one thing, and another tells you something else. I also get defaulting to the one with higher credentials. But it’s the people who have broken away from convention that end up finding solutions. From their own experience they realize convention doesn’t have all the answers.

I’m not trying to discredit the intellect or level of expertise of anyone here. I understand where they are coming from. But there is a method to the madness of structural integration and it’s one that many doctors and PTs don’t understand. So please, hear me when I say—I don’t take orders from your PT.