How a childhood injury inspired my role as a physiotherapist
Beth Carey is an Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner in Healthcare of Older People at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. She is supporting the BGS #ChooseGeriatrics campaign. Beth posts on X: @PhysioKernow
I currently work at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust as a Physiotherapy Advanced Practitioner in Healthcare of Older People - or a 'Highly Specialist Physiotherapist'; a new name that I haven't got used to yet!
My journey into physiotherapy began as a 15-year-old. Boringly, it's often the way people become physiotherapists, but it wasn’t the treatment I received by physiotherapists that made me choose my career.
Rather, it was the effect the injury had on my whole life - even as a young woman. I went from exercising several times a week, walking at least 50 minutes each day, and not having to worry about how I got around, to struggling to walk 10 metres. Of course, it was painful, physically challenging and I relied a lot on those around me to help me, but the largest impact it had was on my mental health.
My mood suffered greatly from the isolation that my lack of physical ability caused. Social interaction with my peers lessened, my freedom was decreased, and I could no longer spend time doing the things I loved. Just being able to walk 'kept me going' in ways I didn't realise.
My realisation led me to appreciate the power of physiotherapy. I set my sights on becoming a physiotherapist to help improve lives through understanding the effect being immobile has on people, to help motivate them to move and spend time living their best lives.
My love of working with older people stemmed from a patient that I saw in my musculoskeletal placement at university. She was a lady in her 80s who had experienced an acromio-clavicular joint excision operation and was attending our clinic for post-operative management and rehabilitation. She was disappointed that her shoulder pain had not been fixed post-operatively and that her function was less than it was before.
I think her expectations had not been managed well with regards to post-operative recovery and return to normal function. Through exercises and motivational education, her pain and function improved. I saw first-hand how important remaining independent is to people, and specifically older people who are losing function in other ways. Being able to impact older people in this way motivated me greatly in developing my career within frailty and healthcare of older people. And I even got a kiss from her on my final day of placement!
Once I qualified, my rotations included working in front door frailty and healthcare of older people wards, and later I became the Trust's 'Falls Lead' at the brilliant Kings Mill Hospital in Sutton-in-Ashfield. This solidified my love for the specialty; being able to dedicate time, patience and care to this group of people inspires me daily.
It allows me to develop and strengthen a plethora of skills: gait re-education, working with those with dementia, working within acute medical management, collateral history taking, postural stability exercises, motivational interviewing, complex multidisciplinary working and compassionate communication with patients and carers.
My move to Nottingham University Hospitals means that I can do this every day in a large Geriatric Medicine department and also help inject my passion for older people's care into other members of the multidisciplinary team.
I believe older people are often a marginalised group in society. There is an expectation from all of society that as we age, we lose function and become more dependent. I feel this leads to older people often being ‘written off'. Working with older people allows a fantastic opportunity to advocate for a part of our community that is particularly vulnerable. Older people in society are a precious commodity. Their wealth of experience and knowledge is not only a delight to engage with, but also invaluable to our society today. We owe it to our older people to look after them well and it is a privilege to do this every day.
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