Jeff Langmaid advocates using 'radical candor'—direct but empathetic honesty—with patients to improve trust and care. He recommends brief, context-aware conversations that acknowledge patients' pain, set realistic expectations (e.g., recommending movement that may cause discomfort), reassure patients they'll be guided, and invite active feedback to make short pre-treatment conversations more impactful.
I'm just a big fan of calling out the elephant in the room, the radical candor that's necessary to break through quite often, and that's being straight up with your patients. Obviously, there has to be context and time and place, but helping people understand, hey, I understand you've been dealing with this pain for a long period of time. I understand that it's negatively impacting your quality of life and that, quite frankly, it can be depressing. I also know that my recommendations include movement, some of which you're probably a little timid or even fearful of right now. But don't worry. We've done done this before. We'll guide you through the process. I want your active feedback. Our goal is to. So you can see how just being super direct now, your patient's like, okay, this person's my guide. They're the trusted expert, and they're not just ignoring it like, blah, blah, blah, let's go over to the machine. But let's have a conversation that can be super brief but super impactful before those rehab exercises starts or before even the adjusting begins.
