It goes without saying: you want a healthcare practitioner with good training, experience and clinical skills. But how you feel about any treatment you receive from your practitioner is also important. And the quality of the relationship you have with them is vital.

If you:

trust them
have confidence in their credentials
know they understand your issues
feel they have your best interests at heart

then it could well contribute to a positive outcome for you. They don’t have to be your best friend, but it helps if you feel comfortable with them.

It is important to notice the language and manner they use when they discuss your symptoms, diagnosis and prognosis.

You definitely want them to be honest and straightforward with you. But that still leaves a lot of room for expressing things either positively or negatively.

I believe good health practitioners don’t just hone their clinical and diagnostic skills. They also put thought into how they relate to the people who come to see them.

Creating a relationship of trust where you feel:

confident that the practitioner has respect for you, and
an understanding of the personal nature of you particular issues

That is more than just window-dressing! It can have a very real impact on the outcome of your treatment. Think of it in the same way as the placebo effect.

A good 'bed-side manner’ is actually important if practitioners want their patients to get positive outcomes. And thoughtless or careless exchanges can have unfortunate consequences. This is what’s known as the nocebo effect. So people-skills are vital!

Health care professionals hold your wellbeing in their hands. I think it is reasonable for us to expect more of our health care practitioners in this matter. I hold myself to this standard.

Chiropractors in Canberra

Canberra is home to many chiropractors. How do you chose a chiropractor nearby that’s right for you?

Thrive Canberra aren’t the only chiropractors in town. We’re often fully booked and if you can’t get in with us you can try our colleagues close by.

Here is a list of chiropractors in Canberra.

Mindset: further reading

This article is part of a series about how our attitudes, beliefs and mindset can affect our health.

There is a fascinating and growing body of evidence that there is a much stronger relationship between our minds and our bodies than perhaps we have been led to believe.

I hope that these articles stimulate some new thoughts and ideas for you, or perhaps shore up what you already knew.

Want to know more?

Reference

Benedetti F. Placebo and the new physiology of the doctor-patient relationship. Physiol. Rev. 2013 Jul;93(3):1207-46.