Inspired by some recent discussions and blogs that have taken a critical look at their own professions and some individuals in it, such as this on personal trainers by Bret Contreras, I thought I would do the same and reflect on some of the worst types of therapist I have had the misfortune to come across in my career. But, a word of warning, if you are the sensitive or easily offended type, then you may not want to read on as you may find yourself becoming the worst types of therapist, an angry one.
If you do read on and you do begin to feel angry or agitated, then you may want to ask yourself why? Is it that perhaps some of these traits are uncomfortably familiar in yourself? If so, don’t panic, there is some advice on what to do at the end! Let me also make it crystal clear that I am addressing all the professions here, physios, osteos, chiros, sports, remedial, soft tissue etc, I refer to you all equally and cast you all under the same scrutiny, in equal measure.
So without further ado, let’s get started and look at the 10 worst types of therapist…
No 1: The ‘my therapy is better than your therapy’ Therapist
Like it or not, there is a hidden, and sometimes not so hidden, hierarchal war between the therapy professions that makes ‘Game of Thrones’ look like a child’s nursery rhyme. Many therapists can often be heard bitching and slagging off other professions, claiming that the way they have been trained is far more superior and far more ‘sciencey’ than the others.
These therapists pontificate about how their methods and approaches are more effective in getting patients better, quicker, easier than others, and because they have been established since 1463 during the reign of King Archibold III they are the senior profession and so, therefore, the best!Bullshit! There is as much of the good, the bad and the ugly in all the therapy professions.
Bullshit! There is as much of the good, the bad and the ugly in all the therapy professions. None can claim any superiority or moral high ground over any other. All have their merits, all have their embarrassments. As a physio, I am clearly biased to the physio profession, often finding myself immensely proud to call myself one. But unfortunately, I am also just as often embarrassed, ashamed and disappointed to call myself a physio, as some muppet goes and says or does something stupid, gimmicky or pseudoscientific.
No 2: The ‘latest fad’ Therapist
Fluorescent stretchy tape, metal massage tools, electro acupuncture, myofascial release, anatomy trains, thoracic rings… you name it these therapists will claim it is the best thing ever to happen to the profession and that it is the most effective, useful, wonderful method for fixing patients ever… until next month when the next sparkly gimmick comes along!
These therapists will jump from fad to fad, they will buy the gadgets, they will ask their patients to buy the gadgets, they will defend the gadgets and the guru teachers of these wonder cures from any skepticism and critique.
But more importantly, they will lose sight of what they should be doing with their patients. The giving of simple honest advice combined with progressive movements and exercise. These therapists stop thinking for themselves, instead of letting some guru infest their own clinical reasoning with their distorted profit driven bullshit.
No 3: The ‘guru’ Therapist
Eloquent, confident, witty, and usually good looking, the ‘guru’ therapist is able to enthrall and dazzle audiences with their charisma and charm. They show therapists the errors of their ways and how they have been doing it all wrong for so long, and how if they do it their way it will be better.
The guru therapist has a slick website and marketing image, they develop a loyal following and surround themselves with sycophants who hang off every word they say. They reject and attack any skeptisim or critique as being disrespectful or having an impolite ‘tone’ and so refuse to debate with any impertinent up start who has any opposing views.
The ‘guru’ therapist will have many, many anecdotal stories, pictures and videos of patients demonstrating amazing instant improvements, they may even do live demonstrations of these impressive feats during their courses ‘shows’ and book launches. What they won’t show you is any peer reviewed evidence or be able to explain why these methods are not repeatable in other situations/environments, blaming the therapists for doing the method incorrectly, rather than let the method itself come under scrutiny.
No 4: The ‘celebrity’ Therapist
More concerned about WHO they treat than HOW they treat, the celebrity therapist will attempt to prove their credentials and skills by showing photos of them standing next to, shaking hands with, hugging, or even posing in a cheesy thumbs up position with a ‘celebrity’.
The celebrity therapist will boast about their status and their famous friends as often and as vociferously as they can, claiming that they were hand picked to support the celebrity due to their reputation or skill set, when in fact it is usually only due to a friend of a friend pulling a few strings to get them connected.
And when I say ‘celebrity’ therapists I am very much including professional sports therapists here. Despite it being a very popular career choice, working as a professional sports therapist is NOT the pinnacle of the skill tree or the clever ladder. Just because a therapist has worked in professional sport does NOT automatically make them more skilled, more qualified, more intelligent, than any other therapist, they are simply more used to working with a different client group, which has its pros and cons for them.
No 5: The ‘I’ve got more qualifications than you’ Therapist
These therapists are easy to spot, they are the ones who always place the full 26 letters after their name on every single letter or email eg Dr A Noying BSc (hons), MSc, PhD, MACP, SRP, CSP, CSCS, NASA, ASAP, PDQ, JLS, DFS… FFS!
They think these initials are like medals to be displayed and the more the better. They also tend to go to great lengths to introduce themselves by their qualifications when you first meet them, telling you very quickly which university they are associated with, and will soon ask you for your affiliations and qualifications to decide if it’s worth talking to you any further.
They seem to think qualifications are all that’s needed to make a good therapist, they think reading the research, or staring down a microscope, or working in a video analysis lab tells them how best to manage patients, not that many of them have actually managed a patient for many years, if at all. They have forgotten that being a therapist isn’t just about treating pathology, it’s about treating PEOPLE with pathology.
No 6: The ‘I’ve got more experience than you’ Therapist
Thirty-eight years doing this job and these therapists have been around since the dawn of time. They are the Yoda’s of the professions. They can be spotted by the wise forlorn look in their eyes, the weathered and worn hands from years of manual therapy and are often seen flicking through the current pension investors handbook.
Although immensely wise and experienced in the art of dealing with people, most of these matriarchs are now unfortunately hopelessly out of touch with current practice, having long ago becoming tired of the constant change in practice and methods, and so have given up.
They have not attended a course since 1986 which was on current concepts in Faraday bathing, and the last journal article they read was on how friction massage breaks adhesions and increases blood flow. They think the profession is on a merry-go-round and if they stay still long enough it won’t be long before what they have always done comes back into vogue. They are now quick to crush new ideas and thinking as youthful exuberance and inexperience and are keen for younger therapists to learn from them and follow in their ways happy now to trust their years of past experience rather than current research or evidence.
No 7: The ‘lazy unfit’ Therapist
The lazy, unfit therapists are easy to spot, they happily give out advice and education to patients on lifestyle and exercise left, right and centre, yet it is clearly obvious they do not follow their own advice. They are the ‘do as I say, not do as I do’ therapists.These couch potatoes are quick to advise patients do more exercise, get fitter or stronger yet look like they haven’t run to the end of the street since they were a kid, or lifted anything remotely heavy repeatedly apart from their own fridge door. They will often ask a patient to do an exercise that they themselves have never done or are unable to do, and when on the rare occurrence they do attempt to demonstrate an exercise they tend to look like a drunken walrus… on roller skates… with bad asthma!
These couch potatoes are quick to advise patients do more exercise, get fitter or stronger yet look like they haven’t run to the end of the street since they were a kid, or lifted anything remotely heavy repeatedly apart from their own fridge door. They will often ask a patient to do an exercise that they themselves have never done or are unable to do, and when on the rare occurrence they do attempt to demonstrate an exercise they tend to look like a drunken walrus… on roller skates… with bad asthma!
No 8: The ‘functional movement’ Therapist
These therapists are also easy to spot, they will be wearing Vibrams, or worse walking about in bare feet, carrying a copy of ‘Become a Supple Leopard’ and tend to say tri-planar, or 3D in every other sentence. These are the disciples of Applied Functional Science. They insist all must do backward lunges with trunk rotation and a contralateral shoulder driver. Poor old Ethel only came in for some exercise after her knee replacement!
The functional movement therapist has no time for frivolous nonsense like squats, deadlifts or shoulder presses, instead insisting they work on floor mats with grids and crosses marked out all over it, Kaiser cable machines and voodoo bands. The functional movement therapist also has no time for any exercise that involves standing on two legs or moving both limbs together. Simply put if you ain’t standing on one leg, on a bosu whilst waving a limb about you just ain’t functional bro!
No 9: The ‘alternative’ Therapist
These therapists are often seen munching on some vegan lentil soya bean salad whilst discussing how their chakra is off centre due to some misalignment in the planets this week. They will consult the horoscopes and astrology charts rather than research journals and has an array of strange shaped rocks and lumps of coloured glass on their desks that they occasionally rub over patients, thats if they touch them at all, usually preferring to work on patients auras and energy fields.
They will also constantly talk about the life force that flows through all of us, yet have absolutely no idea who Obi Wan Kenobi is or understand you when you tell them “these are not the droids you are looking for”
No 10: The ‘profit driven’ Therapist
I saved the worst type of therapist for last. The profit driven therapist is a cancer in all of the therapy professions and needs to be hunted down, exposed, and then eradicated. These therapists are more interested in patient retention than turnover. They are more interested in cross sales than the outcome. They are more interested in money than patient welfare. Don’t get me wrong I am all for people making an honest living and fair payment for professional services, but there are some therapists that have NOT got their moral compasses set straight.
These therapists scumbags will often get patients to sign up to expensive, extended treatment plans, requiring multiple visits, by instilling fear and selling sickness, they depend on patients developing a sense of trust and need on what ever pseudo scientific bullshit they are pedalling in a belief that it is fixing or curing them. They will also ensure patients have brought orthotics, tape, braces, foam rollers and any other add ons that they can push onto the poor patient regardless if they need them or not.
They advertise their services anywhere and everywhere, rather than rely on word of mouth, as they have none. They are usually in collaboration or partnership with other likeminded businesses scumbags and all tend to promote each other and form groups that self-feed referrals and so more profit for each other. These are the worst type of therapists and need to be pushed out of the profession.
Conclusion
So there you go, that’s my look at the worst types of therapists. If you do recognise a few traits here in yourself, don’t be mad, and don’t panic, none of us are perfect, me far from it, I’ve been a good few on this list during my career. However, if you do recognise a few things in yourself, whats more important now is what are you going to do about it?
Remember making mistakes isn’t a crime, not learning from them is…
Learn, improve, and become the best you can be to help those that matter the most, our patients!
As always
Thanks for reading
Adam
Loved this. Thanks.
So what’s left? Seriously, what is the model we should shoot for? How can I have a role model without them being a guru?
By the way I scored 8/10 on your test, still not functional enough bro, and I am broke…
Start training on the bosus or start selling them as the next cure and that will fix your problems 10/10…
Hi Adam,
Brilliant post. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
I think most of us (me included) can admit to having been one (or more!) of “those” 10 therapists at some point. The problem being recognising it and being willing to change.
I am hoping a few of “those” therapists might read this post and it will serve as an impetus for change. This will however require a number of them to “check the ego at the door”. Something which can be very difficult to do, but which ultimately is very rewarding for clinical practice.
Thanks again for your time and effort, not just with this post but the entire blog.
Cheers
Mark
Hi Mark
Thank you for your comments. You’re right I think if most therapists are honest they will recognise a few traits here in themselves either now or in the past! I know I do, thats one of the reasons I wrote it
The ego thing is interesting, in my opinion this is what mostly seperates a great therapist from a not so great one. The best in my opinion tend to be the humblest, and dont got shouting or promoting it from the roof tops etc, perhaps thats the true measure of a good therapist, quiet, confident humbleness…
Thanks again
Adam
What makes me wince the most are the alternative therapists. I saw one ad which advertises his practice as evidence-based practitioner. In his list of qualifications/skills are some physio stuffs, acupuncture, naturopathy, and… Reiki!
But you’re right, The worst of the worsts are the profit-driven or high volume PT’s. But how about those who rely only on passive modalities? One time i was away for months and so my friend with neck pain had to go for PT at a hospital. She was given the usual suspects: US, hot packs with TENS, cervical traction and then was sent home
Adam, this post has made me smile, I think if we’re honest with ourselves most of us will have been in a few of these categories at various stages of our career. What made me laugh the most however, is that somehow you came across an image from my website – and have used it – that is indeed my bunion toed foot in the K tape photos, which I modelled for our website shots!! Hahahaha, I will confess to having it as content of my site, but would like to add I very rarely use it!!
Hi Sarah, I just googled KTape and this was one if the first hence the reason I used it, it is in no way meant to be a dig or critisim of you or your practice at all, I can replace it with another image if you like!
And if it makes you feel better I use the odd bit of K tape too… Its great for holding my Trigger Point charts up on the wall… ???
No it’s ok Adam, I’m strong and secure enough to be able to take it! Still makes me laugh.
OMG another confession – AND a trigger pont chart in the background and I can honestly say that is NO LONGER on the wall either.. took it down a long time ago. I am a recovered trigger point treater!!
Well, you struck a nerve for me, but I not because I can’t own my own shortcomings as a therapist. I agree with and appreciate your critical perspective and keen eye for all of the garbage we therapists sometimes feed each other and our patients. But I do feel compelled to defend Applied Functional Science. Although you have made these observations of so-called “disciples” of AFS, you don’t appear to know or understand what AFS actually is. Although the Vibrams, the jargon, and the wacky looking movements may seem idiotic to you, I think if you understood what AFS was really after (such as critically thought-out, patient/client centered, and functionally relevant exercises/interventions provided by creative-humble-facilitators, NOT single leg balance exercises on a BOSU), you’d really dig it. We all sometimes suck at getting our message across, but the philosophy, knowledge, and intent behind AFS is so rock-solid I’d stand up for it any day. Please don’t throw the baby our with the bath water. Or, if you insist, we could add another category: The “I am brilliant and every other therapist is an idiot” Therapist.
Hugs, Melissa
Hi Melissa
Thanks for your comments, and I did wonder how long it would be before an Applied Functional Science person would pop up!
I do hear what you are saying, and I do like some of the principles of AFS, eg looking globally and not just locally, using novel movements in rehab… HOWEVER…. in my experience AFS is let down massively by a couple of issues
1) the propensity by many of its practitioners that I have interacted with at least that seem to think that AFS is the truth and become aggressive and condescending when trying to discuss other possibilities
2) the insistence by AFS that other types of movement exercise is bad or harmful or a cause for injury/pain
3) the lack of any evidence that this approach or method is any superior than conventional strengthening or just advising patients to move a bit more
And finally….
4) the guru-istic nature of it, with its influential founders and the loyal disciples that will not have a word or any critic said against it
As for the other type of therapist you mentioned, they do exist I’ve met a few ‘everyone else is rubbish and I am great’ therapists but you should also be on the look out for another type as well….
The ‘if anyone disagrees with me they are being argumentative or think they know it all’ Therapist
Hugs back…
Adam
Loving the passive aggressive range of motion, here.
Keep up the positivity… or the other kind of therapist to watch out for: the ‘can’t we just all get along’ therapist.
Cheers,
Nick
Awesome article. It made me think about why I’m in practice and how I can be more professional! I think I will print it and give it to my clinic students tomorrow. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
The bit about the ‘functional movement’ therapist is hilarious. Cheers!!
As a Reiki practitioner, i just want to say that the Alternative therapist you describe, is the one i detest the most. The crystal wielding, veggie eating hippie would have to be THE most singularly ridiculous looking person on this planet. Do they want a medal for being the wackiest looking, or does wacky looking equal the effectiveness of a therapy? Makes me want to punch them in the nose.
There is no competition when it comes to therapies, just what works best for the client. I’ve had Chiro, physio, bowen and reiki. Of these i prefer Bowen. I feel it works best for me.
First, I agree labeling yourself as a functional movement therapist is not a good title, but there are other parts of your argument there that are off base. First all the picture you have is of Naudi Aguilar who is far from a Physical Therapist and the most extreme example of functional “guru”. Also lets look at how kelly starret applies his knowledge and philosophy on movement to his athletes. His athletes who lift heavy barbells standing on two legs all the time without a bosu ball in sight.
The functional approach is not THE only way but it can be included in a well rounded clinical philosophy. Just trying to make sure people aren’t getting the wrong idea from that idea of functional.
This is hilarious Adam. And true too. Thanks for the laugh.
This is quite hilarious! I agree that I could name someone in each of these categories. I have been practicing for over 25 yrs and still love learning new techniques and evidence based information. I can remember learning new techniques in my early years thinking I found the “heal all” method. But, over the years I realized how I had accumulated so many “options” for treating my patients which worked best for them to achieve the best results. I, along with 5 other fellow PTs lost my job recently due to a take over and downsizing of a “profit driven-type” company who has no regard for patient outcomes or satisfaction. They require excessive weekly treatment sessions, and long term care for diagnoses that don’t need it. So, losing my job was truly a blessing and now I can pursue other options to practice the way I always have…with good ethics, integrity, and compassion remembering that our patient’s come first! Thank you for this article. I only wish EVERY therapist out there could read this.
Hi Adam,
Good tongue in cheek response to ‘therapy wars’. I was a late starter at 45 learning the scientific method at university. I took this attitude with me when I did Bowen Therapy training, and have to say no one was more amazed than me when I fixed two sprained ankles on the spot. As you say, therapy is not a one size fits all approach, but of those I’ve experienced or learned (Reiki, Osteo, Physio), Bowen is the best all rounder. It can also address underlying emotional issues and it ‘does no harm’. As I’ve only just been accredited, no one has had to pay me for treatments, so no complaints from my ‘clients’. Paying for treatment will be the litmus test. By the way, I did take offense at the use of term matriarchs, perhaps you meant people whose skills haven’t been updated since the 20th Century? Yours in evidence based therapy.
Dianne
May I ask, what kind of therapist are you sir, seeing you’re the one poiting out the worst kinds. I guess you’re some kind of superior than a guru. You’re a superguru
I’m the anti guru, guru… as I have stated if we are all honest we have all been guilt of many of these during our careers, recognising it and them is what seperate the good from the bad and the ugly
Point being, with this article you fall in the “guru category”, my dear homo sapiens. Psychology doesn’t lie my fellow “therapist” . Cheers
Agreed and as I said in your earlier comment, I am an anti guru, guru…
I think it is fun to have the name “guru” in my website name… as an anti guru myself. When I teach courses, I hope people realize I don’t know everything (I’d rather not know than spout our severely wrong info)! No one does. Always more to learn and I work hard at that. 🙂 Teaching and treating patients is a huge responsibility; and I like the fact that you are stating we must continue to see if we fall into these categories and what we can do about it.
I teach as a way to share ideas, research, and discuss ways to improve care. I usually try to have at least 1-3 other instructors at my courses (and always invite guest bloggers) who hopefully even disagree with me on some points. What’s scary is that people really do follow and want a “guru.” I like the way you share important information and have followers, but stay humble and continue to seek out ways to change and improve. That’s my goal too, despite the “guru” name on the website. Thanks for a good summary, Adam Anti-Guru.
you are a legend
I guess the idea is to draw from a wide range of therapy approaches with the real skill of applying the most appropriate one to the individual patient. Obviously bashing other practitioners and sacrificing quality for quantity are inexcusable. That being said vibrams are awesome and if you deem them to be a functional fad then you have no idea what you’re talking about and need to rethink your paradigm. #vibramfanboy
That was so entertaining and spot on.
Hi Adam,
I enjoy reading your post! I assume you were having a bad day and decided to take it out on the stereotypes. I also assume that you’d agree that not many therapists would consider themselves to be either one of the characters you describe, although we all to some degree find them in us.
But is stereotyping really all you aim at doing? If not, could you open up to how you think ‘we’ should deal with such (normal) human behaviors? I get that you are suggesting that ‘too much of everything is not good’ – but how much is ok? Could it be that different contexts call for different approaches? Might I even suggest that some degree of the ‘traits’ you mention could be valid in certain situations?
If your post only aimed at ridiculing the stereotypes don’t bother to expand on it. It’s a good read and entertaining, as Joe has commented. I’m only curious if you were inspired to stick you neck out and give your opinion on ‘if not this – then what?’.
Kind regards,
Morten
Hi Morten
What made me write this post is seeing more and more of these stereotypes as my social network expands more and more and my eyes are opened to them more often.
As you said finding these in isolation is rare, many are a mix, and yes I have been some of these in the past, we all have!
I disagree that these types can be useful in any circumstance, they are all traits to avoid.
Lastly, it was just fun to poke ridicule at our overly pretentious and self obsessed profession and some of its members
That is all
Regards
Adam
Thanks for this article.
I am seeing a private physio for Haglund’s Deformity which is causing insertional achillies pain.
After 4 weekly appointments the pain is still there.
I don’t think I am being milked for my money but I am concerned about the cost.
As well as getting rid of the pain I also need to gain calf flexibility – I can’t hop on my injured leg.
Can you give me some indication as to how long this kind of condition requires treatment?
Thanks.
Hi, im afraid it is impossible for me to give any personal advice online as I really need to take a history and assess you!
But on average insertional Achilles tendinopathy can be tricky to manage, and can take 3-6 months to settle!
The key to successful outcome is appropriate management of activity, enough to load but not too much to aggravate significantly, and I usually don’t advise stretching as this tends to aggravate and not help insertional tendinopathy as it contributes to compression forces!
Instead a heel raise to help off load and regular and steady calf strengthening which needs to be tailored to your ability and pain
Regards
Adam
I generally say to clients if I cannit sort out your problem within 3 weeks it is not what I thought it was I thjnk you need to ask the question has your therapist established what is wrong what has caused the issue.
What about Diane Lee and her daughter and their fantastical approach to magical pelvic dysfunctions. Thoracic rings an all there has to be some truth in it. I can’t wait for their next book is it called the Hobbit??
Hahaha… I dont think LJ Lee is Diane Lee’s daughter, although they share the same methodology and surname I dont think they are related… I maybe wrong, but I know they are not working together anymore!
Lj is not related to Diane , they are colleagues no more
Awesome read, I wish everyone took this down to earth approach to manual therapies! The one thing I disagree on is anatomy trains being a fad… I would swap these for the ‘kinesiology tape’ fad hands down haha. Well done
I can tell you that anatomy trains is one big pile of Bullshit ! imo. way worse than K-tape. I’ve been to one of their €800 4-day courses, after being convinced by some of my collegues. I didn’t make it past day 1. I never imagined that it was possible for someone to tell (and demonstrate) so much BS in such a short period of time. The naivity of 90% of those present was even more worrying.
Love the anatomy and biomechanics of the myofascial system, hate the non-scientific, commercialized, look-at-me-I-do-complex-stuff, arrogant, exploitation of it by this anatomytrains assessment and “treatment” concept. You shouldn’t even need to be a physio to realize it’s BS, just some common sense (and a bit of criticism) will do. If you try to be an evidence based practicioner don’t even think about it, as you’ll hardly find any references in the back of the course, instead you will find a pricelist of their products you can waste some more money on.
If you really want to waste your money, you’ll be better of buying some K-tape, as that can be useful for markings on your gym floor for some skipping exercise or something.
Excuse me for ranting, frustrations are still fresh
Hi, there’s one more type of therapist you must know, that is workshop driven therapist. These people spent their life only to conduct workshops. They won’t be having any experience or publications work in their so called workshop topic.
Haha… Yes they are a common type of therapist, a bit like the latest fad therapist!
Excellent reading Adam. Do you have a definition of : The “Expert” Therapist? Here’s what they say:
1. The ‘Expert’ therapist works individually with clients and do not offer the same treatments as other therapist.
2. Due to a wide range of therapies the “Expert” Therapist offers he advise you to not see other Therapist for the safety of his work.
3. Client’s don’t realise the full extend of what the “Expert is doing or the effect of mixing different treatments.
4. Other Therapist cannot tell or understand the type of work the “Expert” is doing with clients.
5. The “Expert” often say your body work is not the same as my body work
6. The “Expert” usually offer all in one session the following: psychotherapist work, bodywork, reflexologist sports therapy, reiki healing and physio exercise.
7. He follow professional etiquette and ethics.
Regards
Ben
Haha perfect Ben… Many “experts” out there…
Sadly the above is very true. All you can do is hope that honesty, research, knowledge and hard work wins out in the end in building a long term successful practice. The busier your practice gets, the less you tend to worry about others.
Hey Adam,
I’m just a student finishing up the program in a few months. This is something I’ve seen on every single one of my internships so far. I’ve seen it when I’ve gone to different professionals for treatments too.
Your honesty about it all is refreshing! Gives me some hope when I graduate haha
Cheers! Iyad
Adam, I would so love to share this but number 7 makes that impossible. Equating fat with lazy is a false connection. It’s more than problematic to use a derogatory term like ‘fatties’ and imply people are large because they don’t exercise, and are also therefore lazy or a bad therapist. Number 7 takes the irreverence (thumbs up) into insulting, and in this instance you may have failed to check your own biased assumptions about being large.
I think you need to relax a little and try and see the humour and sarcasm in my blog, or don’t, not that fussed either way!
I recently stumbled upon Naudi Aguilar. To the best of my knowledge, I don’t think he holds any formal degrees in the health sciences. Anyone asking him questions is viewed as a threat and he quickly goes on the attack rather than answer the questions, even if innocent and well-intentioned. Your article hit the nail on the head and accurately described him to the letter. Very sad that people trust these types of pseudo gurus. I’ve trained as both a dietitian and clinical exercise physiologist and have been in the industry 26 years. Ive found that every aspect of the health industry has been overrun by this type of charlatan, especially with social media fueling the fire and fanning the flames.
Keep up the good work amigo.
Cheers
Bill
Thanks Bill
Hi Adam, this really cheered me up! I wonder if there is another type – the humourless therapist! I once wrote an article in Frontline magazine for a new column (since dropped) about working as a (mature) junior physio on the elderly rehab wards and how some of the patients mistook me for a doctor or a consultant despite wearing a white polo shirt – I joked that perhaps they thought I had come off the golf course and was doing my ward round. This generated a very frosty letter from a (female) therapist who said consultants she worked with didn’t spend all their time playing golf and was I trying to be funny etc………..well yes! Something about stereotypes male/female!
Keep up the good work! Phil
I was laughing to myself over my morning coffee. Good article, nice to see the profession not take themselves so seriously all the time and realize we are actually human beings. My other fav is the I work for your modalities company therapist. This person comes in twice a year to lecture us on how only their NMES, SWD or US machines will give any results, based on their own corporate funded research of course.
very nice to see you have a strong moral compass in the PT world. especially enjoyed your functional rotational movement therapist and the profit driven therapist. good read!
Hi Adam!
Great article – thanks for that !
I’m desperately trying to find a second opinion about Douglas Heel and his “Be activated” – course ( http://www.douglasheel.com ) which he is holding all over the world. My physiotherapist is using Heel’s “approach” and my BS-detector is ringing like crazy. But I’m struggling with finding anything critical about Douglas Heel on the Internet – he just seems to be super succesful. Do you know anything about him ?
I’m struggling with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome and one particular thing my PT is doing every time is:
He makes a strength test in my legs where i push or pull against his arm ( very much like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49CvzZW8L_U )
Then he tells me he is gonna make me stronger and presses for maybe 10 seconds on a spot between my belly button and the rib cage and also on the psoas in my sides. It really hurts.
He repeats the strength test , this time he tells me I’m stronger ( I’m “winning” against him ). I also can feel a difference. When i ask him what he is doing, he says he is activating my muscles through the lymphsystem , but thats it – he kinda refuses to give further explanations…
I’m leaving him – but I really would like to understand if there is any sense or even clinical evidence for what he is doing ( and Douglas Heel ).
If you ever have some time to answer me I would highly appreciate it !
Thank you !
Having done Dougs course many years ago, I can say with confidence it’s nothing more than clap trap wrapped up in a thin disguise of science! Don’t fool for it! Find another therapist!
Thanks a lot, Adam !
I followed Naudi on instagram because he named his method “functional patterns” and I thought it would perhaps be quality mobility information like that found from the guys at Mobility WOD. The first few times I saw him was watching instagram stories. I started skipping his videos because a) they had nothing useful in them and b) this guy looks like he does not train. The real shocker for me came with the first actual instagram post he made that I paid attention to. It said something to the effect of “develop better backsquat depth.” However, in the description line of the post and the video if you swiped to the right, Naudi trashed even the idea of doing backsquats. I commented in disagreement with him, and he replied telling me “lol, do you suck your dad’s dick with that mouth?” I was actually shocked. He went on to comment, “seriously bud, your precious muscles only impress people with the same complexes as you. Because I am not juiced out the gills and feel like shit doesn’t mean I am wrong about anything. Get your dad’s cum out your mouth.” Wow! I replied, “Thanks for showing us all what kind of person you are. Quality post.” He replied, “Tit for tat you fucking pussy.” Before I could reply, he blocked me and briefly posted a comment about curb stomping my face before I could also screen rip that. The rest I have screen rips saved of. A quick search online revealed Naudi blocks everyone who disagrees with him, is insanely vulgar, and thrives on trashing any training method that would enable someone to actually make gains. I want Naudi to know that I am easily found online, both email and phone as well as my business address as I am pretty public online. Just google CRS Acoustics. I am inviting Naudi to come tell me that shit to my “pussy” face. I will gladly go head to head with Naudi in any workout (or please God, fight) he wants to come up with. I have been training with CrossFit for three years, injury free, and have never felt so amazing in my life. I’m now squatting over 350 pounds and have more mobility than I did when I was 21 (now almost 25). Naudi, if you ever read this, you are one of the biggest pieces of cowardly shit out there in the fitness industry. I would be embarrassed to wipe my ass with you.
Hi Chris… I am also blocked from Naudi and so are many many others. Basically he is a bit of a joke nowadays and no-one in the professions takes him seriously at all. He is just an angry, ill educated, fat little cock womble. I wouldnt let him wind you up mate. All the best. Adam
So which category do you fall into. From your ranting, I can see at least three that suit you.