Slowness in Physical Therapy

I recently read a fictional novel where the main character was a man that was incapable of high speeds. Every aspect of his life was performed with a degree of slowness that was unthinkable to everyone around him. Regardless of the circumstances he was unable to make haste, and this had profound consequences both favorably and unfavorably.

Increasing our speed has been at the forefront of nearly every aspect of modern culture. ChatGPT, airplanes and brushing our teeth are all examples of ways in which we have elected to move faster to get more done. Health care is no different. See more patients, prescribe more interventions, get more done.

What if we focused on getting less done? If we got less done, would we then be able to have a greater appreciation and deeper understanding of the things we did, in fact, do?

Slowness implies an abundance of time. Time is a fundamental resource we are all searching for, one that we want more of, yet we spend less time doing the things we want to do.

As a means of leaning into this and attempting to push back, I began working privately as a physical therapist. This has provided me with the means to slow down, to spend time with my patients and to dive deeply into their ailment. As a physical therapist, human movement is my field of expertise. The amount of effort required to understand a patient’s movement issue insists that one embrace slowness and create the time needed to aid in solving the problem.

Austin Ulrich, Physical Therapist