“Something happens to people when they lie down for massage therapy”

The young woman had been only been in Birgitte’s hands for a few minutes when tears began to run down her face. Whilst Birgitte worked to loosen up her neck muscles, which were hard as rock, the woman told her how assignments just kept coming in at such a rate at work – her first job after she had finished her education – that she just could not keep up with it.

She had not talked to anyone else about it before, but now it all came out.

“Something happens to people when they lie down and I put my hands on their back. A sense of a confidential relationship is formed. They relax, the barriers fall down and they open up.” And that’s when some of them burst into tears and begin to tell me about their problems. When that happens, I show and tell them that it is very natural, and that I want to listen. My job is not just about treating muscle problems, it is also about giving care. You need to put your heart into it,” says Birgitte.

A team that plays well together

Birgitte Mikkelsen is one of the as many as 500 massage therapists, physiotherapists, chiropractors and zone therapists who work on Falck's teams of treatment specialists. The concept is that a combination of the four classical forms of treatment ensures that patients get exactly the kind of help they need.

Birgitte considers it a great advantage that she is part of a well-playing team of treatment specialists in different fields. In the specific case with the woman overloaded with work, Birgitte did not refer her to one of the others on her team, but rather to one of Falck’s psychologists.

“Of course, it’s not every day that I have patients who break down and cry. But in this case, it was very nice to know that I have a system behind me to take over and provide assistance to the woman, who obviously needed help. I shouldn’t be playing the amateur psychologist if a person is under mental strain,” she adds.

A range of treatment forms

Usually, Birgitte refers her patients to other Falck physical treatment specialists when they have problems that require another type of treatment than massage therapy.

“We have the opportunity to approach the patient’s problem with a range of treatment forms. If I have a patient with a problem I cannot handle, it is very likely that one of the others can. For instance, I cannot help a patient with locked vertebrae, but I can make sure that she gets early treatment from one of our chiropractors, possibly in combination with massage therapy by me,” she adds.

“In that way, I never have to send a patient out in the street with an unsolved problem. It is very nice that I can always be sure that others take good care of the patient.”