Dooley Noted: 5/8/2015
I had a fantastic experience with a patient that could have turned out to be tragic.
She is currently four months pregnant and is getting stronger and out of more pain every week.
She came to me after many therapists, medical doctors, and friends discouraged her from getting pregnant.
After all, she had a history of back pain.
When trying to conceive, she was inundated with discouraging statements like the following:
“Your back will hurt worse during pregnancy. And it already hurts.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t try. You won’t be able to handle the back pain as the baby grows.”
“If you become pregnant, consider terminating the pregnancy.”
She was so discouraged that she was giving up on a family when she found me.
This is the nocebo effect: the ability to inflict a negative outcome.
She and her husband have both been present at every visit since our first.
They voiced these nocebo statements.
And I told them the truth.
No one knows how this pregnancy will go. So everyone around her should just hush up.
My job as her movement specialist is to teach her how to minimize her discomfort in movement.
She is not only doing that, but she is growing stronger and more confident in movement as the weeks accumulate in her pregnancy.
Her osteopath was shocked when she returned for a check-up, able to do new movement feats.
Her OBGYN was shocked to find a comfortable patient with functioning pelvic floor and abdominal musculature
Everyone is in shock that she is improving as her pregnancy is increasing in term.
And THAT is the only thing that shocks me: their dissonance and shock.
How dare they underestimate this remarkable woman!
How dare they scare her with crystal ball theories, as they inject her with their own fears for her.
And how dare they undermine her natural need to want to make a family with her beloved husband.
She does everything I encourage her to try. She gives me feedback on what works and what needs modification.
I don’t boss her around. And I don’t put ideas in her head.
I speak in anatomy and movement terms.
Now, she uses words like, “supination,” “extension,” and “external rotation.”
And she knows when she has those actions and when she doesn’t!
The three of us work together to understand her movement journey.
And every week she walks more steps.
She performs more squats.
She progresses every single time I witness her movement.
This is not placebo. And it certainly isn’t nocebo.
It’s no one’s right to tell her she can’t do something.
Doctor means “teacher.”
So, leave your crystal ball theories to yourself.
Leave your opinions there, too.
Educate – and allow patients to decide for themselves.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley