Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest and motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place.
Burnout reduces productivity and saps your energy, leaving you feeling increasingly helpless, hopeless, cynical, and resentful. Eventually, you may feel like you have nothing more to give.
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Just like anyone, physiotherapy patients can experience burnout. This is especially true of individuals who have sustained a serious injury or had major surgery and are required to participate in a physiotherapy program for a long period of time. The negative effects of burnout spill over into every area of life including your home, work, and social life. It can also cause long-term changes to your body that make you vulnerable to illnesses like colds and flu. Because of its many consequences, it’s important to deal with burnout right away. Busy seasons can cause a temporary spike in caseloads that can have you running from one patient to the next.
Even with correct posture, supportive shoes, and ergonomic workstations, you are demanding a lot from your body. When you are always busy, the physical and mental demands can take a toll on your job performance.
Here are some amazing steps that you can take to prevent and manage burnout from your physiotherapy plan:
1- Ask for help when you need it :
When you are used to having full mobility or feeling totally independent and pain-free, suddenly needing help can be emotionally destabilizing and intensify your feelings of burnout. To prevent and manage burnout related to your physiotherapy program, be sure to ask for help when you need it. For example, if you need rides to and from your physiotherapy treatment appointments, ask for help. The same goes for asking for help with daily chores and household duties, such as cooking and cleaning.
2- Look after your physical health:
When you spend all day helping others work on repairing their body, it’s necessary for you to also be in good health.
In order to relieve stress, try to:
- Exercise regularly
- Eat nutritious foods
- Meditate
- Do yoga
If you aren’t sure where to start, sometimes the easiest thing to do is take a brisk walk around the block. Not only is this great for your physical health, but it will also clear your mind, too. Plus, spending time outdoors is proven to relieve stress.
3- Leave work concerns at work:
This can be easier said than done, but “shutting off” work-related thoughts when the day is over is important for your emotional health.
As soon as you leave the facility, your time is your own and that means you should focus on your own health and wellbeing.
By keeping yourself healthy, you’ll have better output and avoid that physical therapist burnout.
If you are having a hard time leaving work at work, note that physical activity is proven to reduce stress and increase mental and physical health. Exercise is a keen way to shift your focus when you’re off the clock.
Consider these simple exercises to distract your mind and strengthen your body:
- Jumping jacks are great for cardio and coordination
- Wall-sits can be done nearly anywhere and are great for your core
- Push-ups are often touted as the best bodyweight exercise because it engages lots of muscle groups.
4- Make time to do something you enjoy every day:
When you feel as if your life is waking, work, sleep, repeat, it’s perfectly natural to lose motivation and become stressed.
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That’s why you should build time into your schedule every day to do something you love.
For instance:
- Listening to your favorite music
- Read a book
- Watch your favorite show
- Spend some time doing crossword puzzles
Whatever it is, just make sure it takes you away mentally at least from the daily grind and makes you feel good about yourself.
5- Tell your physiotherapist how you are feeling :
If you are feeling overwhelmed by your physiotherapy treatment program, tell your physiotherapist. That is the information they need to have. Knowing how you feel will help them modify your program or just talk things through with you to help you persist. And physiotherapists are generally excellent at providing emotional support and helping their patients successfully complete their physiotherapy treatment program.
Conclusively, almost in any job, occasional stress is inevitable, but the good news is that there are some very effective stress management techniques to prevent physical therapist burnout.
Kindly visit our website www.bluetreeclinics.com to learn more about how we can help you!
Call us now on +971 4 348 8262
info@bluetreeclinics.com