FOR TEENS – Navigating Physio and Life as a Teen
Physiotherapy treatment is different for everyone. And it’s often very hard to keep up with these treatments, particularly if you are feeling really well, and particularly if you are trying to hang with your friends, or make friends, get a part-time job, play sport, do household chores; or just hard because you don’t want to do them, your friends don’t so why should you?
The resources in this section of the website are here for you when you need them, or when you are ready to take on more understanding about cystic fibrosis, and physiotherapy treatments.
You might not feel your treatments are doing anything, you feel no different whether you do them or not, that makes it even harder to get motivated to do them, doesn’t it? Check out some of the sound bites on this page, and hear from young adults with CF and how they tackle this dilemma.
In simple terms we want you to remember:
Celebrate every win with habit formation – no matter how small it is
- Be kind to yourself, it’s a work in progress
- Talk to your physiotherapist, design a treatment program that works for you, and is a program that will promote long term well-being
Here are a few resources that might be helpful, but watch this space for some exciting uploads from other teenagers and young adults living with CF sharing their experiences managing physiotherapy during their teen years.
Strategies to empower YOU
What can you expect from your clinic:
- To provide best practice, evidence-based treatment for cystic fibrosis.
- To work together with you in partnership with decision-making and informed treatment choices.This means your healthcare team wants to help support you in learning more about your health and your body, when you are ready. Understanding more about your health can help when making choices for treatment, health, school, and more.
- To provide opportunities for you to develop and improve your understanding of your own health, the treatments that work for you, action plans, effective monitoring, and understanding your options to manage your health. Effective monitoring will be different for everyone. One example might be using a paper diary to record symptoms like your cough, or how you feel when you are playing sport with your friends, or how well you are sleeping. Talk with your CF team about different resources that may be available to help with this. Action plans can help you to know what to do if you notice changes in your health, getting in touch with your CF team for example, or talking with with your parents/caregivers about concerns you may have, and tackling it together, and early before you become more unwell.
What the clinics will expect of you:
- To participate in discussions and decisions about your treatment. Don’t forget to take someone with you if you are not feeling confident, and you can write down questions to share with your team if this feels easier.
- To ask questions, if you don’t feel sure about something, or you don’t think it is going to work for you share this information with your physiotherapist.
- Your physio will work together with you to help you feel more confident in making some decisions about your treatment independently
- To be honest about your treatments and how you are feeling. Your physiotherapist is not there to judge you, or tell you off. Working together with you and understanding more about what is going on for you in life at the moment helps your physiotherapist to support you in healthcare decision making.
