The Dreaded "BOX"

I was able to do a few presentations last year at the NATA conference as well as a couple other smaller conferences to share my approach to how I address certain areas of clinical interventions - specifically the thoracic spine, training deceleration, and movement (3 separate topics).  Since then, I receive about 2-3 emails each week regarding something contained in on of my presentations.  More often than not, however, I get the something similar to the following:

I attended your -insert specific presentation here- and really enjoyed it.  There was a lot of good content, and your delivery is beyond amazing (I added that, but it is my story so hang on until I get to the point). I really like how you approach the application of deceleration in rehab, and feel like I can apply a lot of you concepts in my practice.  I typically try to think outside the box and feel that some of the drills you presented will allow me to do expand that .  So here is my question- for an ACL post-op patient how long after you initiate quad sets, active straight leg raises, and stool pulls do you wait to begin your deceleration training?

 Now, that is a totally made up scenario but VERY similar to what I regularly get.  My initial thought is always "way to think outside the box, now take your hand of the box and take a step away from it".   There are a lot of people that say they think outside the box, but to me that is like having to tell people you are pretty.  If you have to tell people you are then you aren't.  It is something that should be inherent in your approach and in your decision making process.  To me "Thinking outside the box" is beginning to fall into the same category as "Functional Training" and "Sport Specific Training" - terms people use to describe and market what they do without actually doing anything different than anyone else.

So, for those of you outside the box thinkers is that a way people describe you or how you describe yourself to other people?  If you are the latter, re-examine what you do and try to take a step further away from that rhetorical box, until you get to a point where you fall under the former.