Dr. Jeffrey Guild, a physical therapist, shares a story about a client who initially resisted seeking help for her declining mobility and balance issues.
The client’s daughter tried to convince her to work with physical therapy, but she was hesitant. However, after a fall and injuring her hip, the client finally agreed to seek help.
Dr. Guild and his team were able to work with her and improve her mobility, allowing her to regain independence and engage in activities she had given up on.
The story emphasizes the importance of taking proactive action in addressing physical limitations, regardless of age.
It serves as a reminder that gradual declines in physical abilities can often go unnoticed, but it’s crucial to address them before they lead to more serious consequences.
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Dr. Jeffrey Guild (00:00:00) – I want to share with you guys a situation we had with a client of ours. And I want to share this because this is actually a very common story for a lot of families. It’s not always the dramatic sudden things that occur. It’s the slower things that can get people into predicaments, the things that we don’t see as well. If you haven’t heard of me, I’m Dr. Jeffrey Guild, physical therapist, owner of Automotive Physical Therapy. And we empower people to remain active and independent in their homes and in the community where a mobile service where we go out to people in their homes and facilities and their place of business wherever they want to work on, working on their independence with their mobility, that’s where we go. And also we like getting information out to people and telling stories and sharing tips and information that can inspire and empower people to build, to achieve things that they want in their life. If they’re limited with physical limitations, with their mobility, they’re limited with independence, especially if they’re over the age of 70 or they know someone over the age of 70.
Dr. Jeffrey Guild (00:00:57) – So back to the story. A client of ours again chews about, I think, about 86 at the time, and her daughter was trying to encourage her, mom, you need to work with these guys like they’ll be able to help you to to get better. You’re beginning to slow down. You’re walking slower. I see that you’re having a problem with your balance and you’re going to fall. You’re going to end up in the hospital. Something’s going to happen and you’re not going to be able to live in your house anymore if you continue to decline. And of course, like a lot of people, it doesn’t matter who you are. You know, we don’t want to confront what other people are seeing or we want to blow it off or we just we don’t see it or we don’t want to take action on it. We might be fearful of what’s happening. And by confronting it, then we actually have to confront it and address it. And we’re all like this in one way or another. In this particular case, of course, 86 year old lady, wonderful, wonderful woman.
Dr. Jeffrey Guild (00:01:46) – She wasn’t willing to work with us or any other physical therapy to get her balance better, to improve her physical abilities. She was fine where she was at. And that’s very, very common in our experience. A lot of people don’t want to act proactive or they choose not to act proactively. And again, this is the same as all of us. This is no different from a 35 year old who should be going to estate planning attorneys because they have real estate and children and things that they need to put into legal assets and, you know, planning for the future and getting life insurance or whatever that needs to be done when we’re young. And of course, the 85 year old parent is usually telling the younger generation, hey, start thinking about these things in advance and start acting on it. Now, you might want to see an estate planning attorney. You might want to buy a life insurance. You might want to plan a little bit more for retirement, take these things a little more seriously.
Dr. Jeffrey Guild (00:02:38) – And of course, the 35 year old saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll get around to it. Right? Same thing with people when it comes to falls and addressing balance problems, addressing business, taking their medical management a little more seriously, whatever the thing is, if they have not come to a pain point enough yet, then it’s very common for them to just put it off a little bit longer, a little bit longer and or not take it quite as seriously as they potentially should. Again, this is most human thing in the world. So in this case, I got a call on the weekend from the daughter and basically saying, hey, my mom’s willing to see you now. And I said, Oh, okay, well, great, we’ll do a free consultation, which is what we do. And and then we’ll see what’s going on and see what she wants to get back to doing. And the doctor said, Well, she’s had a fall and I think she’s not doing too well.
Dr. Jeffrey Guild (00:03:25) – And that’s really the reason why she’s willing to see you. And so we scheduled it. And I go out there and of course, the mom by this point is she’s quite shaken. And then she’s also saying, yeah, I fell on my hip and my hip hurts. We have ways as physical therapist to determine whether an x ray should be done or whether an x ray does not need to be done. And in this case, I did my testing determine, yes, that an x ray is warranted in this case, reached out to her doctor and he recommended that she go to the emergency room. Daughter came out, took her mom to the emergency room and then did all the necessary tests that need to be done. Luckily, it was determined that, in fact, her hip was not broken and she was actually fine. So then we were able to start working with her on a regular basis. Now, by this point, the mom is now shaken and she’s ready to take action on it because now something really has happened and it’s obvious that she needs help.
Dr. Jeffrey Guild (00:04:15) – She is declining with her balance and her strength. And so we’re able to basically do an evaluation and see where she is limited, see why she’s at risk for falls, and then to be able to get her balance better, her walking better, to be able to work on her hip and to get her physically better so that she could be more active and independent in her home. And sure enough, so after working with her, she was able to not only walk around her house without a walker. Now, she did use a walker for a time and use a cane for a time, but she was able to get off those things and to be able to walk safely in her home without a walker and not only in her home. We then continue to work with her to go basically above and beyond that. She was able to go out grocery shopping. She was able to go. Back to church and all this without using a walker because she continued to pursue working on her physical abilities, her balance, her strength.
Dr. Jeffrey Guild (00:05:07) – And we even worked on getting up from the ground, from kneeling to standing and getting back to gardening and a lot of the things that she really enjoyed doing that she had kind of given up on because of that slow decline. Now she was able to get back to things because she was focused on her physical abilities and she and her daughter were absolutely incredible and they got after it. And even, you know, she’s approaching 90 years old and she’s able to do things she hasn’t done in several years because of that tenacity, that grit to pursue getting her physical body better. And the main takeaway when you get from this is these things can be done. People past a certain age, whether it’s 80, 85, 90, we see all the time that people are able to improve their physical abilities. The more they pursue it, the more they get after it, the more they’re able to get back we get from our bodies what we put into it. And we see that with our clients all the time.
Dr. Jeffrey Guild (00:06:02) – Now, if you like this story and others like it, subscribe to our channel and share it with a friend and that helps this channel get out to more people. If you want powerful tips to help yourself or someone that you care about to prevent falls, download our Tips report. The link is in the show notes and then you’ll be able to get powerful impactful tips. Hope this story was helpful to impact you or someone that you care about or you might run into situations like this in the future. Again, it’s the slower progressing things that often get us in trouble. It’s not the sudden things. Sudden things jolt us into action. And when something has suddenly happened where spurred into action, but when we don’t tend to get spurred into action, it’s that slower decline that’s more difficult to see. So hope the story is helpful for you or someone that you care about.
