Chinese whispers of fitness

The best results for a personal training client come when the PT communicates directly with any medical professionals involved in the client's life. This is because things get hopelessly garbled otherwise. 

Whenever a client reports medical advice, there's a real game of Chinese whispers going on. Remember that game? 30 kids sit in a circle, the teacher gives a sentence to pass on in a whisper. By the time it comes back to the teacher it bears little or no resemblance to the original sentence. So, this is the process,

1. the client does the workout
2. the client hurts and sees someone medical
3. the client reports what they did in the workout, warping it
4. the doctor (who is probably not physically active) listens and interprets this mangled description, warping it
5. based on this the doctor gives some medical advice
6. the client listens to this advice, warping it
7. the client reports the advice to the PT, warping it again
8. the PT listens to this advice, and warps it when describing it to other PTs asking for advice

I'd add that the warping done by the client and doctor will also be affected by their personality, whether active or sedentary. There's sore and there's hurt. Hurt means injury and medical attention, sore is just part of exerting yourself. The active person will say they're sore when they're hurt, the sedentary person will say they're hurt when they're just sore. Thus the active person will make their injury worse, and the sedentary person will never get strong. 

This is why it's important for a PT to communicate directly with the medical professionals involved in their clients' lives, provided the client gives their permission. And if the client doesn't give their permission, the PT probably shouldn't work with them.