What type of patient are you when you go to the doctor?
Do you show up with your list of questions alongside your list of medications? Do you eagerly listen to what your doctor explains to you? Do you follow everything your doctor prescribes you to do?
Do you go to your doctor’s appointment because that is what you are supposed to do? Show up, hear what the doctor says, but then leave with questions or asking yourself, “Ok, what did they just recommend?!?”
We are all searching (secretly or otherwise) for that magic pill, aren’t we?!? We want the magic medicine to help what ales us. In many cases, a pill is exactly what is needed to keep a disease from worsening, a condition from further impacting our lives or an ache or pain that won’t seem to go away. When we go to the doctor with an issue, we expect to be prescribed the exact treatment that will do just that - treat us!
Have you ever been surprised by what your doctor’s prescription says? Have you ever expected one medicine in tablet form only to be prescribed something very different? Well, this was the case for one of my clients who was recently diagnosed with osteoporosis. After being prescribed the medicine that commonly goes with this diagnosis, her doctor prescribed something she did not expect. Doctor’s orders: Walk for 30 minutes every day.
Now, I have to ask, if you saw this on a prescription note, how would you respond? Would it catch you off guard? Would you think, “this isn’t going to help! I need a prescription!” Would you start making a 30 minute walk part of your daily routine?
There is so much research out there that discusses the benefits of this seemingly simple prescription, but instead I would love for you to consider - what if movement was prescribed with every diagnosis we received? We already know how much we were made to move, how good it is to our health when we move, so why don’t we follow doctor’s orders?
As we bring in a new year and look ahead to exciting things in 2025, I would like to challenge our mindset. Remember that “movement is medicine” isn’t so cliche, but rather just the very thing that we all need to hear and add to our list of New Year’s goals.
Happy New Year!
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