The Rumble in Redpoint. An Intern's Perspective.

Written by Nate Allen, one of our 3rd year DPT interns from MGH Institute of Health Professions.

I probably spend too much time letting my mind wander during lunch. It’s not great for my productivity but my mind sometimes makes these fun little connections between different interests of mine.

The other day, Cara was talking about The Catskills where she used to live. It reminded me of a book I had read recently. Non-Compromised Pendulum, all about Cus D’Amato and his famous boxing gym in Catskills, NY.

You might not know his name but I’m sure you’ve known some of his fighters: Floyd Patterson, Jose Torres, Mike Tyson. Cus didn’t consider himself a boxing coach at all, more of a psychologist and a philosopher.  At its core, Cus’ training was focused on developing the kind of philosophy and mentality that allows a person to do their job as best as possible. 

I’ll give you an example. 

Cus was a close friend of Muhammad Ali. Before the Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman in 1974, Ali telephoned him for advice. Cus told him: “He’s expecting you to run away for 15 rounds. As soon as the fight starts, you need to show him you’re not scared. Charge forward, plant your feet, and hit him with a hard combo. And it must be thrown with bad intentions.”

People forget how scary George Foreman was in the early 70’s. Two men had beaten Ali at this point: Ken Norton, who broke Ali’s jaw, and Joe Frazier, who had knocked Ali off his feet. Foreman had completely annihilated both of them in less than two rounds, and was the betting favorite 7-1.

Bad intentions. That phrase always stuck in my mind. The idea that it’s not enough to punch with precision and power, a fighter needed to have the proper mindset behind the punch as well. 

Can you really feel a man’s emotion and thoughts through 8oz of synthetic leather and a few millimeters of cotton hand wraps? I think there’s some truth in that. 

Cus said he didn’t teach boxing, he taught how to think. Can we apply his ideas to any pursuit in life? Do patients improve faster if their treating therapist has genuine interest and compassion towards them?

What would Cus say to PTs working in cookie cutter clinics: bored, stagnant, not bothering to do anything beyond standardized exercise and a hot pack? 

Whatever task you are taking on, skill and physicality is only a part. It’s not enough for a PT to ‘just’ treat a patient. Therapists need to approach every treatment session with good intentions. Even with all else being equal, patients can tell the difference between someone genuinely trying to help  vs. someone putting on a fake smile and going through the motions. Unfortunately, many larger clinics are set up in a way that promotes profit at the expense of everything else. I know because I’ve been a patient and a student clinician at both kinds of clinics.

I was taken on as a PT intern at the start of the COVID crisis. Despite the world falling apart and the constant threat of financial disaster, I never felt that I was an afterthought. For five weeks I made the most of a tough situation.  I arrived early, left late, set up new marketing, upgraded the website and Facebook page, edited and posted videos, and stayed up late looking over PT journals and textbooks in order to treat my patients with the latest research. 

I’m not saying this to brag. To be honest, I was having a lot of fun. I was able to be at my best because of who I was with. Despite the ridiculous stress of running a business, COVID-19, and raising a family, Liz still genuinely cared about my learning experience and worked hard to give me what I needed. That was why I had the best learning experience I ever had by far, despite everything being completely terrible.

This year has been a complete mess so far. It might seem like this is never going to end. 

But remember, back in ‘74, Foreman was an unstoppable menace. Ali knocked him out in round 8.

Bad intentions. 

We’re still in quarantine and things are bad, and they might get worse before they get better. But I have firsthand experience with the PTs at Redpoint, and they treat everyone with compassion and good intentions, and it has made all the difference.