24 May 2011

Starting Physiotherapy (Again)

Today, I began my newest round of physiotherapy.  The physiotherapist that I had last time has apparently received a promotion and is now at a different office.  So I'm with a new-to-this-office therapist called Sandra.

There was a little bit of confusion today when I got there.  I filled out the form showing where my pain is and what kind of pain (stabbing, burning, aching, etc.).  I showed that the pain is in my groin and left lower back - just as it's always been.  But when Sandra called me back to the room for the consultation before we got started, she asked if I was there for my shoulder or hip.  Uh - what?

It seems that when the resident filled out the prescription for my therapy, he used the diagnosis code for a shoulder labral tear instead of a hip labral tear.  Meanwhile, I had filled out paperwork indicating a hip problem.

Of course, I didn't know this part, so I now think Sandra is a moron for asking me this question.  For those of you who have met me in person, you know I'm not that great at hiding what I think via my facial expressions.  "Uh, I've been hip and groin issues since October of 2009.  That's what I've ALWAYS been coming here for."

Then she explained her confusion, and we got it sorted.  Whew.  For the record, I no longer think she's a moron.

I explained the story of how this all started (by now, I've become an expert at getting medical professionals from October 2009 to the present in under five minutes), and we went from there.  She's really pretty awesome.  She thoroughly explained her plan of attack, and then answered some questions I had about why my ROM (range of motion was so limited), what we could do to get it back, would I ever get it back fully (remains to be seen - maybe not, and maybe not without surgical intervention), why does my back also hurt (because the hip and pelvis are connected and when the hip loses mobility, the sacrum can hurt because it's moving around more but it also has less room to move around), and why a labral tear decreases my ROM (too lengthy to go into here, and the drawing she made me made the explanation make more sense anyway, and this blog ain't that fancy!).

After all of that, she took me through some stretching exercises.  Then she took control of my leg and just stretched me out herself.  Her plan is just to work on stretching first to try to increase the ROM and loosen up the affected muscles.  Then she wants to work on strengthening the area.  This seems to be opposite of the previous guy's plan, and I like this.  She also asked me what the results were from my first stint of PT there, and we discussed that. 

All in all, I really like her, and I'm feeling very optimistic about this.  Unfortunately, I only get to see her again tomorrow, and next Tuesday until I get a job.  On Tuesday when I see her, she'll set me up with a home plan, and we'll just go from there.

1 comment:

  1. It sucks that you can't see her after Tuesday. I hope the home exercises will help. :)

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