The Fundamental Attribution Error and Why You May be the Problem, Not Your Client
I recently posted a thread about the tendency toward settling for mediocrity in our profession. This is actually exactly what keeps us from feeling confident in not only guaranteeing results for our clients but also referring them to other practitioners or back to the doctor for red flags, and advocating for different answers.
You can get caught up in saying things like:
"Some people just don't get better"
"It takes time"
"You can't help everyone"
"Pain is complex"
"You can't fix things overnight"
"The patient doesn't do their HEP"
"The patient doesn't manage their stress"
"You will have to live with some degree of pain or limited function because the tissue has changed forever"
But in reality, it DOES NOT take weeks and or months to solve their problems, and these beliefs all stem from average or below average (mediocre) results.
In this episode, I unpack what I mean when I say I can guarantee results in 1-3 sessions. Why you need to be able to guarantee results too and how when we make judgments on our patients we often fall into to a psychological tendency called the fundamental attribution law.
Resources mentioned in the episode:
Gone Whale Watching (we did not see the Orcas, until the following day, BTW)
Original thread post
EXOS Online Education (Applied Neuroscience of Performance with Roy Sugarman)
LTAP Level 1 course
Considering the viscera as a source of musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction is a great way to ensure a more true whole body approach to care, however it can be a bit overwhelming on where to start, which is exactly why I created the Visceral Referral Cheat Sheet. This FREE download will help you to learn the most common visceral referral patterns affecting the musculoskeletal system. Download it at www.unrealresultspod.com
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Anna Hartman: Hey there and welcome. I'm Anna Hartman and this is Unreal Results, a podcast where I help you get better outcomes and gain the confidence that you can help anyone, even the most complex cases. Join me as I teach about the influence of the visceral organs and the nervous system on movement, pain, and injuries, all while shifting the paradigm of what whole body assessment and treatment really looks like.
I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in.
Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Unreal Results podcast. Um, I cleaned my office, great, moved my plant, and, um, I'm also recording this at night, um, thanks to, one, the early ass sunset. And two, uh, tomorrow going out with Gone Whale Watching and, uh, spending the day on the boat because the orcas are back in town.
And, uh, for those of you new here, whale watching is absolutely my favorite thing to do. Um, it's my most My favorite hobby of mine and, um, I'm actually also a crew member on, uh, Gone Whale Watching, which is the company I am with in San Diego. Um, and in my free time, it's not like, obviously it's not a job, job.
Um, but. The other thing is, orcas, um, are an exotic sight to see, um, meaning, exotic meaning, um, it's not a normal, normal ish sighting, uh, for this area of the world. Um, There is not, so what do I mean by that? There's not resident orcas off the coast of Southern California. There are a group of transient orcas called the Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas that go Sort of, I mean, they can travel up to 100 miles a day.
They move really fast. They can go all over, um, as far as the coast goes, these ones are commonly, most commonly off the coast of Baja, Mexico, and, um, I think even into the Sea of Cortez, like around the peninsula of Baja, um, California, and then they usually will go as far up North, um, California to, like, Santa Barbara area, um, but usually that's as far as they go north, but it's not consistent.
There's no rhyme or reason of, like, when they will be wherever. They are just roaming around, having fun. Um, orcas are, uh, pack animals. Um, they, um, travel in pods. Um, they are very, like, Um, the, like the, their lifelong pods and they, um, very, there's always like a matriarch and then, um, a bunch of the, her offspring.
And, um, so, oftentimes what you're seeing is them hunting, um, especially when you're seeing them close to shore because this specific type of orca, um, the thing that they like to eat is dolphins. Um, so. Um, they come close to shore because that's where the bottlenose dolphins can be found. I mean, there's dolphins kind of everywhere, but, um, you know, the orcas are not shy about coming very close to the coastline.
And obviously that's when people usually see them. And, um, this group is, um, that we'll be looking for tomorrow is actually the same group that we saw in October. And I can't remember if it's the same group or parts of the same pod that we saw in 2021, um, but it was, it's definitely the same group as we saw in October and they've actually been up in the LA area and like Ventura area for the last few days and, um, last report, it looked like they were headed South.
So that is, uh, our cue to get on the boat. Um, so yeah. Um, yeah. That's what I'm doing. I don't know why this turned into an orca podcast, other than to let you know why I was recording at night, um, and then give you a little information on the orcas.
And, um, anyways. Good times. Uh, I get asked sometimes because I post a lot about whale watching too. I might as well just like turn the beginning of this podcast into a whale watching podcast. Um, but here in San Diego, uh, when is the best time to come whale watching? And it is, um, really the thing that makes San Diego special is you can see whales all year round, which is pretty unique.
Uh, not every whale watching season. spot is like that. So in the fall, which is, you know, fall, early winter, we're, um, humpbacks. And then, um, the very, very beginning of gray whale migration, since the gray whales are going, um, coming back down from Alaska to go into the breeding grounds in Baja, in the lagoons in South Baja, California.
And, um, Then the grays, so we see the southern migration of the grays starting in like December, end of December, January, and then, um, it stays fairly consistent. And then we'll start seeing them go north again, um, in the springtime. So like April, um, it would be the northern migration and the gray whales.
And then, um, around that time we, well, really all year round, but we can see fin whales, which is the second largest whale on the earth. And then in June is the best time to see blue whales. And uh, that is amazing. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to roam the earth. And, uh, that is something special to see, so that is usually June, July are the best months for the blue whale.
So that's, that's the year. And then these exotic, um, sightings like the, um, orcas, I mean, it really can happen whenever, but it's more typical during the end of the summer, um, fall time. So even this time of year is a little less normal, but here we are. Like I said, they got a mind of their own. So they can, they're, it's hard to know, but it always feels special to see them in the wild.
Anyway, so now. Nine minutes in into the podcast. So what I wanted to talk about today is actually, um, is actually, uh, based on a thread that I posted that the other day, I will actually just read it here.
I said, the amount of mediocrity in our profession keeps us from feeling confident. In not only guaranteeing results for our patients, but also from referring them to other practitioners or back to the doctor for red flags and advocating for different answers. It should not take weeks and or months to solve their problems.
Then I gave some examples of, um, beliefs, um, or judgments we make. We, as a professional, as a profession, because I'm guilty of this too, back when I was younger and didn't have this like whole organism lens of view, but some of the things we often say about patients that don't, are not getting better or not, um, getting the same results that a lot of our other clients get is, you know, sometimes we say some people just don't get better.
You know, we, we call it like the human element. Uh, I often hear, um, and see online from people saying you can't help everyone. Pain is complex, especially with the push for understanding the role of the biopsychosocial model on pain, which is so valuable and, and important and accurate. But it ends up being like a crutch for a lot of practitioners to be like, well, It's, their pain's biopsychosocial, so, you know, it's just, you can't help everyone, takes some time, and that's a cop out, honestly, honestly, it's a cop out.
Um, so, that's the other one, it takes time, um, which, yes. And that it takes time is nuanced and it's very nuanced based on who you have in front of you, what's going on in their body, what they're complaining of, why are they coming to see you and what the goals are for them. So I want to talk about that.
statement, definitely. Um, another one that I see a lot in regarding of time is you can't fix things overnight. Some people are like, well, you've had this problem for X number of weeks, months, days, years, and I'm in, so you can't fix it overnight. And I'm also called bullshit on that. Um, another super common one, the patient doesn't do their home exercise program.
So you just Accuse them of not doing it, assume they don't do it, or maybe they don't do it. Um, but also think that that is the primary reason why they're not getting better. Um, which I'm also like, uh, your home exercise program, honestly, should just be like icing on the cake. It shouldn't be the cake. Um, another one, the patient doesn't manage their stress, they're overstressed, like, they just don't You know, make their health a priority.
That's a big one too, which again, like, you know, go back to my episode from a few weeks ago, um, on the parasympathetic nervous system, because. That's a whole reframe on the concept of being stressed. Um, and then this one also, which I hear a lot. You will have to live with some degree of pain or limited function because the tissue has changed forever.
Which again, there's some truth to that. And the truth to that is the tissue has changed, right? If you have pathology, um, your tissue has changed. Uh, however, your tissue changes with aging. Like tissues are always changing. Um. There's no such thing as normal. And then also, just because you have tissue change, um, tissue pathology, scar tissue, whatever it may be, doesn't mean you're doomed and will have pain and immobility and not be able to reach your goals.
That's just, again, a cop out. So, I go on in this thread to say, these are all beliefs that stem from average or below average results. In parentheses, mediocrity. And frankly, gist are not true. It's your ego blaming someone or something else. And, um, this, this thread might be, might make you feel some sort of way.
Um, because of whatever truth there is to it for you. And believe me, if I would have read this, 12 years ago, I probably would have agreed. Like, agreed in terms of like, didn't feel so warm and fuzzy about it. Um, and, and two, like, I wasn't trying to feel warm and fuzzy. Because sometimes to get the point across, you have to Be a little assertive and also to remember, and this is why I actually decided I wanted to do like have a podcast talk about this because I framed it up very black and white and it's not black and white.
Nothing is black and white. It's both. And right. So any one of those statements may be true. But the problem is, is when we're making judgments, I guess, against the person we're working with because of Our lack of ability and our lack of confidence. And so, you know, the other reason why this is on my mind is when I think about like when I, you know, so from a business standpoint, and this is again, like I was talking to my business coach, Jill Coleman, shout out Jill Coleman.
Um, A couple weeks ago and we were just like, she's been my business coach now for two years and I'm re signed with her for a third year next year because I just, I do love working with her and I just feel like there's so much more to learn. Um, and what we talked about is like, you know, I think sometimes because the information I'm presenting is such new information to people, um, That I can always get better at working on my messaging about, like, what I'm offering people, like, with not just sharing the information, but, like, what I, what transformation I'm offering you by taking my courses and by starting to be curious with this new lens of view and, like, really dive into it.
And, you know, so. So one thing when it comes to business, you have to basically, I can't just tell you like do this, you're going to get better, assessing and become more confident. Telling people they're going to be more confident is just like you can't sell confidence. Like it's not tangible, it's not objective.
And also a lot of people don't realize that they're even lacking in confidence. And then you're like, Oh shit, I didn't realize I wasn't even fricking confident, right? So that that's another thing. So that like, um, especially in our interest in industry, because, um, we are sort of used to average results or mediocre results.
We're used to out of 10 people definitely being able to help seven of them. But the other three, like sometimes we can't help them. And, um, so,
so you might not realize that you're even lacking in confidence and you know, so, so the thing I tell people, and which is true for me, that I can guarantee results in one to three days, and oftentimes I get questions from people in my classes of like, you know, they're like, what do you mean? Do you really get like, are you really like you don't need to work on someone in one to three days?
And I'm like, Again, it's nuanced, so in order to like make you pay attention to what I'm saying, I have to make it black and white. Yes, I help people in one to three days. But yes, it's nuanced, and it depends on the situation and the person and what we're, what we're dealing with. But in general, the majority of people, of my athletes who come to see me for something, See me once for an issue and then it's not really an issue again It's like I fix them or you know I help their body fix themselves and then they continue on with their life And then I like in a month a month later, they're like reach out and they're like, can I come see you?
I'm like sure and they come see me and then I'm like, what's up? And they're like, oh, well I feel better from the last thing but now I have this or Maybe it's, I feel better from the last thing, but I'm starting to feel it come back a little bit and has been like a month. Okay, let's, let's reassess, right?
So, I didn't just arbitrarily make that up. That is my lived experience now. That often times, I just need I, I, my thing is like, uh, give me one to three sessions and I'll figure it out. And often figuring it out means complete great results. Sometimes figuring out means getting, making progress, significant progress after they've been seeing a different practitioner for weeks and weeks with no progress.
With the belief system from that practitioner that it was a tendinitis or a weakness or an instability that takes time to fix a mechanic. And so I'm like, Hmm, so if we're operating by that belief, if we're them, the other practitioner and the athlete are operating by the belief that they have tendinitis and we need a certain amount of time for eccentric loading to remodel the tendon because all of their Um, and I do one session of an evaluation and treatment, which is typically a manual therapy.
I love exercise. I love movement. I do utilize it, but most of the time lately, it's like. They come, they see me, I tinker with my hands, and then send them on their way. If they need some sort of movement, then yeah, I'll add it, but for the most part we're doing manual therapy. And, uh, then they feel better.
So then to me, that means that the belief that they had tendonitis, that it's gonna take time because of tendon remodeling, and all that stuff, was it actually even true? Maybe, like sometimes we get MRIs or ultrasounds or whatever and we see the pathology and maybe they do have tendonitis and Yes, that will take time to actually remodel the tendon.
In fact, it will take documented six, between six and twenty four months to remodel fascia, which is the majority of what, like, an Achilles tendon is, right? Like a tendinous structure. So, agree, that takes time, but if they feel better and then can now perform better without any loss of performance, was it that tendonitis that was really the problem?
Not really. It's one of those things, like, you know, am I concerned with tendonitis? If it's not a problem, yes and no, like I don't want it to linger potentially and then like somebody ruptures something, but it's also like, well, I'm not going to hold them out from training, right? Um, and also, like, who am I to say it does matter?
There's plenty of people who rupture tendons with never any evidence of having previous tendinitis. You know, and it's the same thing with like an MRI of the back. Like you can MRI anybody after like 10 years old and they're gonna show degeneration to their discs, potential disc herniations, all the problems.
And do they have pain? No. Is it a problem? Do you need to like do all this coarsability stuff with them? Maybe, maybe not. So, It's, it's one of those things that words matter and when you're saying the, the list of things I said that people tend to tell patients and people tend to, um, assume about patients who are not getting better is just, you're forcing your story and your belief system on them, which, which oftentimes is frankly just not true.
And people hold on to the words as truth, and then they believe them and think they're doomed. Or, feel terrible about themselves because you actually also body shamed them. You know, which I talk about that a lot when I talk about the experience I had with my mom and her shoulder and upper back and neck pain with her lung cancer.
I really, truly believe. that if the physical therapist that she worked with was used to being able to guarantee results for people in however many days or weeks, right? It doesn't have to be one to three like me. It could be two weeks. I used to, so before I learned all of the visceral and neural manipulation and osteopathic work, which is what?
has allowed me to guarantee results now in one to three days before I learned all that. I guaranteed people that came to see me at Axos when I was the director of physical therapy there. I tell the athletes, give me two weeks and I got you like two weeks is all we need. So you should know how much time it takes you, right?
And so because I knew it traditionally would take me two weeks when I learned all this new information and I started to see that go down and go down. And go down and go down and then pretty soon I started noticing that it is kind of weird that I only need to seat like somebody can fly me out and work.
I can work with them for two treatments, three treatments, ideally, and, uh, they're good for like a week, two weeks, three weeks, and then even, even since then, now some of my athletes have me come out, fly out, work on them once. Not even three treatments now. It's like once my sister was the other day was like your athletes flying you to New York City today for a 90 minute session just today and then you fly home the next morning I was like, yep.
She's like that's insane. And I was like, yeah, it is it is insane, but also That's all that's needed. So, so anyways, so why this matters. Knowing what you can guarantee. Right, so back when I was at Exos, it was two weeks. I can get you better in two weeks. Granted, it was two weeks with three to four days a week minimum, but that's fine, so I could have said six to eight visits.
There's nothing wrong with that, six to eight visits. Um, but I was guaranteeing in six to eight visits. You will be better. And, um, when, so how this relates is that means then when you have the confidence to guarantee that, that also means that in six to eight visits, or for me, one to three visits, when something's not Changing significantly.
That puts up a radar. That puts up my thinking bubble and I'm like, What am I missing? Am I missing red flags? Where is their listening taking me? Like is it an organ? Is it repeatedly to an organ? Do they have red flags that I should be concerned with some sort of disease? Um, or What am I missing? What other practitioner can I pull in or do I need to send them back to the doctor or do I just need to like reassess and pick a different hypothesis and plan, right?
But I don't let people get into rehab purgatory where they're just there because we're like, well, it takes 6 to 24 months for tendons to remodel. So it just is going to take a lot of time. That's bullshit. And, um, it's also one of those things. Well, this also can depend on what type of practitioner you are.
And it's important to understand what type of practitioner you are, because if I'm a strength coach, if I'm a strength coach, am I going to be working with someone for potentially six to 24 months to remodel that tendon? Yes. So can I guarantee them results in three sessions? Not for tendon remodeling, but that's not what I'm guaranteeing.
I'm guaranteeing I'm taking people out of pain in three sessions, one to three sessions. I'm telling them that we in one to three sessions will have solved the puzzle of what the hell is going on and why they're feeling this way and what plan we need to do, whether that be a six month tendon remodeling program or.
A check in every, every month, you know? And so that's important to like realizing what type of practitioner you are. If you're a physical therapist or an athlete or trainer that is acting a lot like a strength coach. Which, there's nothing wrong with that. That's great. That's needed. This is gonna be different from, from you.
You can't just say, I'm done with you in three visits, you're gonna say what I just said. In one to three visits, we're gonna have it figured out and we're gonna have a freakin plan in place. And then, depending on the goals of the, what you got It's going to take X amount of months because of documented healing principles, right?
So like if you're trying to improve core stiffness in someone, like I always tell people like core stiffness, you know, again, six to eight weeks are going to be neurological gains. Does that mean that you can be done with them in six to eight weeks? Maybe. Do you need to handhold them the whole time once you teach them the exercises to increase the stiffness?
They're feeling better with the neurological gains. Neurological gains are important and also sometimes all that's needed to set them on their path to go and be active and work out and get stronger. Do you have to hold their hand the whole time to go into that hypertrophy and stiffness phase of life?
Not necessarily. Because again, I'm speaking to the physical therapists, the athletic trainers, who, um, our model is not set up to be strength coaches all the time. Even if you are a type of practitioner who likes to use movement and exercise, there is a difference between movement and exercise and strength training in a rehab setting and in a performance setting and in the gap between the two.
And eventually, the person should be with a coach, not you. Unless you want to be a coach, right? So this is what I mean by it's nuanced. Is there still timelines for healing tissue? Absolutely, but it shouldn't be like people are lingering with swelling and pain. Well into your months of rehab. So, um, the interesting thing too is like, so this was my, this is truly my belief that if the physical therapist who was working with my mom, I mean, I used her as an example because I talked about her on the podcast, the situation a lot, and this is really where it was born from, is sometimes we don't change the plan and we don't Refer to back to the doctor or pull in other people to help us because we are not confident that we can get the person 100 percent on our own all of the time, because the three out of 10 people.
That you, that you don't get great results with, those are the ones that keep us up at night and they eat at our confidence, right? And so, what I'm trying to teach people is a, a way to approach our assessment where the body can guide us where to treat. Which is gonna then take those 3 out of 10 people that we haven't been able to get results with and get them results too.
So, then when you truly do have an outlier like my mom, you know, well, I can get results for everyone. I am confident that I can guarantee results between one and three visits or three and eight visits. Whatever, whatever your number is, it doesn't have to be the same of mine. The better you get, the more specific you get with your assessment and the more specific you get with your treatment.
It should narrow, right? You should eventually get to be like one to three sessions. But, you don't have to be there right now. The most important thing is to make sure you're getting, like, most of the time, 99. 99 percent of the time, you're getting the results. So you have the confidence to be like, no, this shoulder, I'm doing the things.
That are going to change it. The manual therapy things, the exercise things, the, I'm working on the visceral things, I'm working on the neural things. I'm hitting all the dots. I'm doing all the things and It's been however many visits that I know I can get results in and the dial has not moved at all.
This is when you're like, this isn't This is not their fault. This is not my fault. We're missing something bigger, deeper, potentially more serious. Rethink about all the things that it could be. Ask the questions of the red flag. Maybe you didn't ask if they, you know, maybe you didn't ask if they've been having like nausea or hoarseness of voice or cough that doesn't go away or Just really freaking tired, or maybe they, you didn't ask that if they've had a rapid amount of weight loss that was unplanned, um, ask the questions, you're probably not asking them, but you, you don't have to ask everybody them, right?
Because again, if you know, you can get results for someone, the time when you need to ask these is like, hmm. This is not acting like all the other shoulders. I know I can help all the other shoulders. So if in my mind, if that physical therapist would have had this kind of confidence, I could, he could help people in two weeks, eight sessions.
And he gets to the eighth session with my mom and she's literally made no progress
then instead of body shaming her and, and accusing her of not doing her home exercise programs and basically being like, you're too out of shape. Right? Then maybe he would have been like, Hmm, I need to refer her back to the doctor for, To rule out something going on with her liver, Something going on with her lungs, Something going on with her stomach, Whatever, like it doesn't, You don't have to be right.
You don't have to be like, I think she has lung cancer. You just have to be like, Hey doc, I get good results and something's fishy. So start looking for the, the, you know, stinky fish and That's so that's that's why this is why Confidence is so important. And this is why the ability to guarantee results is so important It's not so you can be like I can fix anyone like how cool am I?
It's so you can be confident to catch the outliers If, if you don't get good results, you're not going to see who the outliers are because you're going to have too many people that are just like, mm, kind of status quo, mediocre, not really getting better, not really getting worse. And we're just like, well, it takes time to change tissue.
Right? So, um, this is, this is what I mean about it. This is what I mean. Um, so interesting to this week, I was doing some. Extra learning because I love to learn, but also because, uh, the CSCS recertification is up at the end of this year, which I was, I was in my account, like seeing how many CEUs I needed and all that stuff.
And, uh, holy cow. I was like, man, my original certification date was 2003. I've been a certified strength and conditioning coach for 20 years. How about that? So then I was like, well, I can't let the certification go now. No, I've done it for 20 years. Like, come on. So I, um, needed some extra CEUs and, um, I'm not one to just do like the free quizzes just because they're free and easy.
Like, if I'm going to take the time to get recertified in something and have to do education, I want it to be like valuable education. Um, But also I was like confined to like, okay, well it's end of November and um, I need them by the end of the December. And also, I can't really travel a ton of spots now because my travel schedule is full of football players and so like, what is out there online?
And I went to the EXOS online education platform because I was like, well I know they've got some stuff on there and I obviously like, having been a founding EXOS member, like, That's stuff I like to learn what maybe what new stuff they have or what things can I review and so I was like, okay, I, um,
I decided to purchase their, um, online course. Well, first of all, I had to make sure the course was NSCA approved, which of all their great courses, shout out accesses course. catalog. There's a lot of great courses, but only three of them were approved for NSCA credits. So that was kind of a bummer. But, um, one of them that was approved was from Dr.
Roy Sugarman. Dr. Sugarman is a neuroscientist, neuropsychologist. Um, Out of Australia, who, um, used to work for Exos. I don't know if he still does, but um, he worked there when I was there, so I know Roy really well, love him, um, big fan. He actually filmed this course that I purchased, um, actually when I was there, like right, right around the time I actually left Exos.
And so some of it was review for me, but it's really nice seeing it in a different lens of view. Um, because I have a, you know, I am a whole different clinician now than I was then, um, with all this information of understanding the viscera and the nervous system in the brain. So the course was applied neuroscience for performance, I think was the name of it.
Um, and when, and when he was basically talking about like how to coach change, how to coach, how to coach, um, Yeah, how to coach emotions, how to coach change, uh, and, um. What he was talking about, you know, and he was talking about like the neuroscience of just like how our brain works when it comes to like being a high performer and like achieving goals and success and like being a hyper formal performer not once but like Continually and always getting better and like not letting our emotions be Because our emotions are errors that come up in our, um, task.
Uh, not letting them negatively affect us. And so, it's a really great course. I, I, I definitely recommend it. It was a four hour course. Uh, but one of the things that he mentioned during it, which I was like, Oh, this is exactly what happens with This, this, um, blame game that happens when we're not getting good results with our patients, you know, when it, when we're like, Oh, well, they're not, they're probably not doing their home exercise program, or like they're too stressed out, or they don't want to be an active participant in their care, or, you know, all the things wrong with them.
And this, this is called, this is actually a like an actual neuroscience like, um, psychology term. Um, it's called the Fundamental Attribution Error. The Fundamental Attribution Error is when, um, like we're coaching someone and the person we're coaching, right? So our patient, when they fail, we automatically will blame the internal aspects of them.
Their personality, right? They're not doing the home exercise program. They're not an active participant in their care. They don't manage their stress well. They are out of shape. They, it just takes time. The tissue needs to remodel. Like, blah, blah, blah. Like, these are all internal things. Um, but we often then fail to consider the external and environmental pieces of it, right?
And so, with this fundamental attribution error, when it comes to us, right, if we were in their position, if we were failing, and we were thinking about why we were failing, Instead of blaming, instead of being like, well, I'm not doing my home exercise program and, um, I'm not managing my stress well, and all these internal things, we would be like, well, it's not the right exercises, it's not the right diagnosis, maybe we're missing something, um, we're basically going to think about all these external factors that it could be, right?
So, um, You know, a key point that he had is that we need to be aware of this tendency to be judgmental towards others when they're failing and consider that it could be an internal or external factor or a combination of them both, not just assume that it's internal for them and. external for us. And so it's one of those things, like I thought about it.
I was like, this is exactly why people are like, you're not getting better because you're not doing your home exercise program. Or you're not getting better because sometimes it just takes time in the body. Just, you know, that's just life. That's just, you're never going to be normal. These, I call them body shaming.
Like these are like ways that we are shaming our patients because we're not getting the good results for them. And so my, my kind of point with this is like how funny that it's an actual psychological thing. No wonder we have that list of excuses, right? And no wonder we kind of like settle for average and mediocrity a little bit, you know, um.
But it's interesting because I think, I
think that initially if we were in the position that our patients are in, our first thoughts would not be like to shame ourselves of the reason of like, we're not getting better or to be like, it just takes time. We would, what would we do? We would go find another practitioner, we would search for more answers, we would reassess, we would like ask more questions, we would demand, we would seek out, there's gotta be a different answer because this isn't acting like it should.
Right? So we know that for ourselves, we have to know, we have to like stand in that for our patients too and avoid, like you said, avoid the fundamental attribution error. And so I just thought that was so interesting. So and, and this is my point too, my point, and this is what my messaging for my courses, like there's my whole message, even the podcast, right?
The whole point of the podcast is expose you. To a new lens of view, this more whole organism lens of view, where we understand the organism is driven by a need to survive. Right? A need to survive and that the body is constantly working for us, not against us, and it's doing things strategically to protect the really important things in our body that are going to allow us to survive.
And so therefore we have to consider the viscera and the nervous system when we are working with the musculoskeletal system, because part of the reason you're not getting results for those 10 people. So you can be able to guarantee results and get confident and then be able to catch red flags. This is, this is because we're missing the visceral and neural lens of view.
So my whole point is when you have an assessment like the LTAP, the locator test assessment protocol that I teach that considers the viscera and the nervous system and the fundamental neurophysiology of the body, you're able to then let the body direct you where to go. So then that is what gets the results because now you're working with the body, not on the body.
Now the body is guiding you and so if the body is guiding you somewhere over and over again, and you're not getting results like that's the first red flag, but you don't know if you if you don't have an assessment like the L tapping can figure out where the body is guiding you and you're not considering the viscera and the nervous system, then It's always going to be hard to get results for those 3 out of 10 patients that you have struggling with, to be honest, and you might be okay with that.
There's no shame in that, like 70%. That's pretty good results, right? 70, 80%. Like, if you're okay with that, then great, you know, but just stop telling the stories to the other 20 to 30%. that is not getting the results with you, don't tell them the stories, just refer them to someone else that maybe has this lens of view, right?
So it's more, this whole point is, yeah, to tell you why the LTAP is so awesome, but also to be like, just let's stop telling our patients stories. Let's just consider that, let's put ourselves in their shoes, stop telling them stories, and give them more help in finding the right people for them. There is plenty of people in the world for you to work on.
Being in a scarcity mindset of if you refer someone to another practitioner because you're not getting good results with them and the fear they're going to lose a patient or lose multiple patients because of that is just silly. In California alone, there are 39 million people.
What? I can't imagine how many of those 39 million have pain and need support from people like physical therapists and athletic trainers. So if you have to send one to somebody else to get good care, not that you're not getting good care, but a different type of good care, there's another one to fill that spot.
And then also what happens, that person has good results, they, they finally get the help they need. And what do they do? They go back to you, or they send their friends to you because they're like, you know what? Anna couldn't help me herself, but she recognized that, and she sent me to Veronica, and Veronica helped me.
And I'm really grateful for Anna for doing that. And so I'm confident that I'm going to refer someone to Anna, because I know they're going to get what they need. Because I know that Anna is confident of what she can and cannot guarantee, can and cannot do. And will happily pull somebody else in, because she always has the patient at the center of the goal.
Okay.
I mean, we started this whole conversation off with Orcas. I didn't know I was going to get so heated, but you can tell, like, I'm so passionate about this and it's not just to sell you on my courses. I promise you it's not. It's because the ability to guarantee results is actually the ability for you to help people the most.
And like, yeah, it makes sense. Guarantee results, help people, but that's not even what I mean. Like, to truly help them, to truly Make them feel like there's hope and catch red flags. Hopefully, you know, set it up so people don't end up like my mom. Does that mean that sometimes you, oh, in, in learning this, do you sometimes miss things still?
Yep, I've missed stuff. Does it mean that, um, does it mean that sometimes you like, Ask people questions or refer them back to the doctor or like, you know, for tests that maybe like didn't 100 percent need, maybe, but I mean, better safe than sorry, right? Like, this is why we're part of the healthcare system.
Healthcare team is because it is hard to figure it out sometimes and we need to, you know, feel confident to go back and forth between the doctor. Which is, you know, a whole nother conversation of why it's so important to have a great relationship with the doctors that you work with. Have you even talked to the doctors that you work with?
Have you talked to your patient's doctors? Do you know who your patient's doctors are? That's an opportunity to call them up and be like, hey, I'm working with your patient. This is what's going on. Did you know what's going on? This is what we're doing. Just wanted to introduce myself and let me know if you'd like me to send you reports.
Does it take more time to do that? Yeah, it's an extra step. But is it important? Yeah. Because you want to have a relationship with a doctor that when you call him up and you're like, yo, bro, the shoulder, it's not acting like everybody else's shoulder. Something's wrong. And I, you know, they also have these couple of red flags and I'm, I'm concerned that there might be something underlying going on in the viscera.
And when you have a good relationship with the doctor, whether they are like up to speed on visceral referral patterns or not, they will trust you and they'll be like, sounds kind of wacky, but if you say so, let's check it out. That's the kind of relationship that you need to form with your doctors. It takes time, but also, you know, what helps that forge that relationship and that trust you getting really good results.
They hear it. They know why does my doctor that I work with trust me when I'm like, yo, I think it's their liver, their liver is driving a lot of this pain in their shoulder. And I'm doing this and I'm like, maybe let's get some blood work to check out. Do they have a functional issue? Thank you. For him to be like, okay, Anna, makes sense.
Makes sense. Let's do it. Versus be like, what the fuck are you talking about? Like you're full of shit. Like the only reason I have that relationship with them is because I get good results with people. And so we've built trust over the years and I can come at them with some things that sound a little crazy and they're not crazy because when we know the anatomy it makes sense, but it's just not mainstream yet.
It's only going to be mainstream if we all start trying it out and considering it and looking at it and being curious and admit that even though some of us are doctors of movement science, We don't know everything and that's the bit of the thread when I said like this is our ego getting in the way Our ego gets in the way a lot.
Our profession is full of ego and one of the things that is forced When you start having an assessment that teaches you to listen to the body and trust that More than what you know and what you were taught. It is the quickest way to recognize how much ego you have in your practice. And to begin to let it go.
So when I got into this, did I realize how much my ego was driving my practice? Not at all. I didn't think I had an ego at all. But man, was I surprised when I got into it. I was like, holy cow, like I am working on someone's body. Like I am the ruler of that body and I know everything. Nope, not the case. So I tell people like, Really, every day I work on someone, it is a practice.
It is a daily practice of checking my ego. It makes me better as a practitioner, and it makes me better as a human, to be honest. So, but it, it, it's humbling. And also, though, It's amazing, and I get to see how capable the body is, and how magical the body seems, and I am literally in awe of the body with every single patient I have.
And it's made a better relationship in my own body. I now meet my own body with that compassion and kindness and awe a lot more than I used to. And boy, that's a much more comfortable place to live in.
So anyways. That's it. I'm creeping on an hour, and I don't like it when the podcasts get this long. So, I'm gonna leave you with that. Happy thoughts for Lots of Orcas tomorrow for me, and I'll report back. I'm sure if you follow me on social media, you'll know before this podcast comes out. But if you didn't catch it, then I'll update you on the next podcast.
Have a great day, night, morning, wherever you are, and, uh, we'll see ya.
