Promoting Health and Wellness by Example

As I sat with my patient, discussing issues of disease prevention, I told her, “Exercise is a very important part of staying healthy and taking care of yourself. Make sure to take the stairs when you can, and exercise on a regular basis, even if that means 15 minutes a few times per week.” Though I offered those words of advice to my patients, I found that I wasn’t leading by example, and a feeling of guilt came over me each time I repeated it.

Exercise, eat healthy, take care of yourself…I had heard it all from my mother growing up. And I knew I should be doing all those things anyway. I’d heard from friends that it made them feel better, gave them more energy – but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Then came physiatry. I started my PGY2 year at Schwab, and I saw patients who had suffered from stroke, amputations, and complications of some horrendous hospital course. As they left the hospital, I would encourage them and their families to “eat well, exercise, don’t stop moving, and take care of yourself.” And that’s when I realized that if I am to be a role model and leader for my patients, I must lead by example.

And so, I started doing what I knew was always good for me: taking care of myself. I bought more vegetables and fruit and avoided fast foods, pizza, and ordering out. I started doing something my friends and family never thought I could – running. And at first, I hated it. Of course, after several decades of fighting exercise and avoiding the gym, stepping into that arena was scary, hard, and took a lot of discipline (especially as a busy resident). But I wanted to lead by example, taking care of myself so that I wouldn’t feel guilty when I gave my advice to my patients.

I’ll never forget one of the first races I participated in. I ran with my PGY2 PM&R colleague. We were huffing and puffing into the first mile thinking to ourselves, “Ugh…this is tough!” Then out of nowhere, a bilateral transtibial amputee on what may have been C-spring prostheses passed on the right and gunned ahead of us. We looked at each other, laughed in amazement, and knew we had nothing to whine about. In that moment, I felt so much admiration, respect, and support for this man who had clearly overcome any handicap related to his disability – so much so that he could outrun me and thousands of others who had two healthy legs.

As physiatrists, we see disability daily. Wheelchairs, AFOs, splints, braces, prosthetics…they’re our norm. Our patients and their families look to and depend on us for advice and medical expertise. We should be at the forefront of all medical specialists leading by example in promoting health and wellness. After all, we are the only field of medical practitioners that defines ourselves as specialists who focus on restoring function. And what better way than to start with ourselves? Sure, we’re all busy, we’re all tired, and we all probably have 20 other things we’d rather do. But taking that precious time to promote our own health and well-being will certainly pay off in the end. We may live longer, live happier, and feel better about ourselves as we work so diligently to provide our patients with excellent care. We can – and we should – lead by example.

Catherine Choi, MD
PGY3 – Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital
RPC Secretary
 

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