Who Uses FM?

I’m embarrassed to confess that I used to be a snot about practitioners. As a PT I was very biased toward believing that the best clinician for handling patients for a multitude of diagnoses was a PT. Maybe if we’re honest we all start out that way. But maturity and experience have shown me otherwise, from two perspectives.

First, I hear stories from patients I have followed behind other PT’s whose treatment of their patients was not very impressive. PT’s have the reputation, perhaps rightly earned, of counting on exercises as a pillar of their care. As a result, PT patients often end up with a hopelessly long list of exercises they eventually abandon, and it’s the patient’s fault they didn’t get or stay better because they didn’t do their exercises. Something about that has just never sat right with me, especially when I have been the patient. I would diligently work with my prescribed exercises, but I never felt they accomplished what I hoped for. Suffice it to say PT is like many other professions: some clinicians are passionate about going all out to help their patients, and some just don’t care as much. This is true for hairdressers, auto mechanics, dentists, and cashiers.

Secondly, I have met clinicians from a multitude of other professions that wowed my socks off. Their dedication to their patients, searching out the cause of a problem, and working hard to help their patients is heroic. This is the kind of clinician I want to be, and the kind of clinician I want treating me, my family, or anyone who asks me for a referral to a good clinician. Maybe this helps you understand why it’s so hard to confidently refer, and why I made the Find a Provider section of this website. When I can find this kind of person quite frankly I don’t really care as much what the letters are after their name. Sure, there are cases where those letters absolutely matter. But I’ll reiterate what put in my section on Fascia Facts:

Knowledgeable hands do not necessarily go with lots of letters after one’s name, nor do knowledgeable hands always accompany a particular health care field or license.  To my way of thinking, knowledgeable hands are developed by a person who: 

• Uses their hands regularly and frequently for palpation in assessment and treatment
• Is open-minded and seeking, even when it means they need to revise their paradigm, which is very demanding
• Embraces a life-long path of learning
• Is willing to give all they can to each patient, and is also passionate about helping people recover and thrive

So I celebrate anyone who does all this, regardless of their professional silo or which approach(es) they utilize. 

As mentioned earlier, FM is used all over the world by a variety of clinicians. These include medical doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists, massage therapists/body workers, nurses, athletic trainers, and, of course, physical therapists. Many incredible professionals have stepped out from the comfort zone their professional silo affords to explore the possibilities FM offers, all in an effort to accomplish better results and get to the root cause of the problems our patients manifest. They all have my respect, whether I share the same professional title with them or not. I have undergone a major paradigm shift in my prior bias, and as it stands now I would rather refer to a clinician who is well versed in FM – regardless of the letters after their name – than one who does not use it, including a PT.

Who uses FM? A host of dedicated clinicians from a variety of disciplines. And now I can say that even five-year-olds use it!