My patient doesn’t stand up with the correct technique. What should I do?

When I run practice exam sessions with candidates, teaching “correct technique” for sit to stand is very frequently included as a chosen treatment.

The question I would ask everyone:

Is there actually a correct way to stand up? Do you stand up that way? Does anyone?

Teaching a good technique for sit to stand can be valid, if the person is having difficulty with sit to stand and you have identified it as a priority for intervention.

If a person is standing up in a way that looks different, but is safe and effective, don’t interfere with it.

In many cases what is considered the “correct technique” - feet level, shoulder width apart & not too far in front, pushing up from the arms of the chair - is actually not the safest or most efficient for many people who have neurological conditions.

So if I can do it quickly, why not address it within a session?

If I was to observe a candidate correcting the sit to stand technique of a patient who was already quite able to stand up independently, I would have two thoughts:

• that it’s a waste of your precious time in an exam. (In practice exams I often see this take 6, 7 or even 8 minutes. Thats 16% of your 50 minutes gone. It always takes longer than you expect.)

• that it demonstrates a lack of awareness of the patient’s priorities

So in summary:

• If your patient identifies making sit to stand easier/safer as a goal, go ahead and teach a good technique.

• The same would be true if the patient is unable to complete sit to stand safely.

• But if your patient can stand up safely by themselves already, then its probably not a high priority for you to address.