Healing the Healers: A Story from the Therapy Floor
Healing the Healers: A Story from the Therapy Floor It began with a quiet wince. Not from a patient this time, but from one of the therapists on our floor. He rose slowly after a long neuro session, placing a hand at his lower back. I noticed the slight stiffness in his walk, the effort it took him to hide the discomfort. He wasn’t alone. Over the next few days, I began to see the signs in others — tiny pauses, silent stretches between patients, a subtle shift in posture. And then, it happened to me too. A sharp tug in my back after a full day of therapy. That’s when it truly sank in. We — the healers — were hurting. As physiotherapists, we speak the language of movement. We teach recovery, strength, and flexibility. But in our dedication to others, we had slowly stopped listening to our own bodies. Within my team, four of us were now dealing with pain. It wasn’t dramatic, but it was persistent. Paraspinal spasms, tight hamstrings and glutes, stubborn piriformis tension, a pullin...