Author Topic: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread  (Read 38891 times)

FrugalShrew

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@Frugal Lizard, it sounds like you are making great progress! I love your "gardening physio," and I second the comment that your dedication is impressive.

@oneday, I don't think it's lazy to rest when you're sick, it's good sense to take care of yourself and recuperate! Hoping that final 10% back to pre-injury mobility goes smoothly.

I did another round of formal PT in the last few months and just "graduated" last week, and I'm feeling like I'm in a good place to keep momentum going. I've been watching a lot of pain-relief/strength-and-mobility videos on Youtube, and it's really inspiring. Unfortunately, I'm pretty out of shape due to not being able to get much exercise while I was rehabbing my knees. But I have been working slowly but surely to add little stretches and exercises throughout my day, and I'm seeing quite a bit of improvement. I did about 15 minutes of PT this morning, and have done some feet and ankle exercises at my desk. Oh, and some neck and shoulder exercises at the red lights on my way to work. :)

Dollar Slice

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I'm seeing my new PCP next week so I may be starting official PT - or not, I'm not sure what her opinion will be of my increasingly painful arm. I've mostly just been doing walks every day and some arm stretches to try and help my arm out, but it isn't really helping (but maybe it would be worse without them? who knows). I have been in a ton of pain recently. :-(

FrugalShrew

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That's rough, @Dollar Slice. What's going on with your arm?

Dollar Slice

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That's rough, @Dollar Slice. What's going on with your arm?

It's just been increasingly painful for about 6 months. I never injured it or anything. Total mystery! I have some limited range of motion but the pain just gets worse and worse, and has spread from just below the shoulder down to the hand (if I had to guess I'd say it's the radial nerve from where it hurts/the tender parts of my arm). Anything where I stretch my arm all the way out hurts, and certain positions hurt intensely. Stuff like making my bed, bathing, brushing/washing hair etc. is getting really difficult to do. It's been so rough...

Unfortunately my neurologist (who thought it might be due to a cervical spine thing) dropped my insurance and all specialists right now seem to be making appointments months out... I'm dreading finding out that I need to make a specialist appointment and can't get one till September or something.

oneday

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@Dollar Slice I'm sorry your arm is getting worse, not better. I sure hope the PCP will be sympathetic and find a way to get you relief quickly.


In other news, I only did 1/5 stretches on Tue! 🤦 Not an auspicious start. This shame motivated me to do all the things today. Noticed the tingling didn't set in at 8-10 seconds like it used to, I was able to hold a certain stretch for almost 30 seconds. So even though the range of motion is the same, there has been some healing/changes to the nerves. Hopefully that means range of motion is not far behind.

It's so unrewarding to do the same boring moves day after day and not see any changes. Even though the changes are so subtle that day to day they are not noticeable, it's demotivating.

PT score: 6/10

FrugalShrew

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That's rough, @Dollar Slice. What's going on with your arm?

It's just been increasingly painful for about 6 months. I never injured it or anything. Total mystery! I have some limited range of motion but the pain just gets worse and worse, and has spread from just below the shoulder down to the hand (if I had to guess I'd say it's the radial nerve from where it hurts/the tender parts of my arm). Anything where I stretch my arm all the way out hurts, and certain positions hurt intensely. Stuff like making my bed, bathing, brushing/washing hair etc. is getting really difficult to do. It's been so rough...

Unfortunately my neurologist (who thought it might be due to a cervical spine thing) dropped my insurance and all specialists right now seem to be making appointments months out... I'm dreading finding out that I need to make a specialist appointment and can't get one till September or something.

Gah, what a mess with your neurologist dropping your insurance. That doesn't seem right at all that they can just kick away an existing patient. I know what you mean about specialists scheduling so far out. I'd like to find another rheumatologist, but they are all scheduling so far out that I lost steam for pursuing the necessary paperwork.

That is awful about how much it's affecting your daily life. Also, pain sucks. :(

Sending lots of sympathy and good vibes your way, and hope that you can get in with a new neurologist soon.

oneday

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PT score: 6/10

Not as faithful checking in, but PT score stands at 16/20. Slow start, but made a 3 day streak.

Going to try to extend the streak for the 3 day holiday weekend. This will be tougher, as it lacks the structure of the workday.

FrugalShrew

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Great job on your 3-day streak, @oneday! And good luck with the upcoming 3 days!

I did half an hour this morning, so I'm pretty happy with that.

oneday

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A half an hour is great! I can't muster the enthusiasm to continue for that long, lol

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Mine just take a few minutes, but I am doing them every day.  It's usually while I am in the kitchen waiting on something, since they don't have to be done together.  These are all leg/hip stretches.

I saw an easy whole upper body stretch on Youtube and asked my PT about it.  It turns out it is one he does and he showed me some variations, so now I do it too.

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Yesterday was post-run stretches and rollouts plus some ankle work.
Foundation training this morning.

Frugal Lizard

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Yesterday was my appointment with Ms. Magic Hands PT

She doesn't think I am quite ready yet for a pelvic core connect class.
YET.
I would be fine in the first or second class. But I wouldn't likely be able to keep up with the build up for the whole 6 weeks /twice per week session.
So that is still a distant goal, just less distant than when I first asked in February.

I have a new exercise to add to my daily program. I can put my left foot up on a chair without pain or tipping. Right foot is a nope. Starting with the step stool for both. 2-3 times a day for now.

I can get into the position for the new one from two weeks ago, which I could not then. I still can't do the exercise yet, but it is starting to happen.

All the other exercises are either very easy or almost there. She gave me clear direction on which ones to make harder, and which ones just to keep steady on.


 

Nadia Edits

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Reading this thread reminded me of the value of exercise in my lazy, sedentary life, so thank you for the motivation!

My mother asked for some hand weights for her birthday a couple years back, but never got into the routine of using them - I think she maybe felt a bit intimidated. So for last year's birthday, we sprang for a personal trainer to visit her at home, show her how to use the weights, and give her a personalised exercise routine. The trainer even made a 15-minute video for her to watch, which is cute.

I don't do strength or flexibility exercises, just walking and my exercise bike, and I'm really feeling the lack of overall strength. So after seeing this thread, I did the 15-minute video routine before my exercise bike time. Along with a short walk, that's all for today's exercise.

oneday

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@RetiredAt63 If I'm waiting on water to boil or something, I'm usually doing dishes (no dishwasher). Which is why I'm better during the week: almost always there is a meeting during which I can stretch off camera!

@mspym you are knocking it out of the park!

@Frugal Lizard great progress. Cool that you can see the movement towards the class.

@Nadia Edits glad you are getting some value from the thread! It's helped me much the same way :)



...made a 3 day streak.

Going to try to extend the streak for the 3 day holiday weekend. This will be tougher, as it lacks the structure of the workday.

Streak broken: 4/6 days. But every other day for the last 4 days is far better than I've been doing.

If we add in today, 5/7. I like that stat better, somehow ;)

RetiredAt63

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@RetiredAt63 If I'm waiting on water to boil or something, I'm usually doing dishes (no dishwasher). Which is why I'm better during the week: almost always there is a meeting during which I can stretch off camera!

Makes sense.  I do have a dishwasher, so dishes go in at the end of every meal.  Some meals also mean washing pots/utensils that I don't want in the dishwasher, but I do them in a bunch at the end of the meal. 

Fortunately I don't have to do the exercises all together.  The standing up ones usually get done in the kitchen, the sitting down ones get done in the living room, the lying down ones get done on the bed.

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Finding time to do rehab exercises is tricky.  I found that by keeping a few weights and exercise bands in the bathroom, I was able to do most of my rotator cuff PT while pooping in the morning.  :P

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Finding time to do rehab exercises is tricky.  I found that by keeping a few weights and exercise bands in the bathroom, I was able to do most of my rotator cuff PT while pooping in the morning.  :P

My, my, my - you are an optimizer multi-tasker!

Frugal Lizard

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #467 on: June 20, 2023, 08:56:45 AM »
My PT recommended a new OT who does trauma informed pelvic occupational therapy. The OT is joining an affiliated practice with the PT and was giving a presentation to all the pelvic physios.  My PT immediately thought of me and suggested I investigate the OT's scope of practice. 

Discussed this with my trauma therapist before I made an appointment. TT thought it would be a great idea to perhaps fill the blank in between her and the physio. I have my first appointment July 4th.

Still doing all the exercises, many of them easily. Range of motion and endurance is really improving.

Still have a lot of pain at times. Tolerance of sitting in a chair at a table or desk is about 40 minutes in a stretch and 4 hours cumulative.

Six days until the pelvic pain clinic support group assessment appointment.

Filling out the paperwork for both the support group and OT was triggering.

oneday

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #468 on: June 20, 2023, 10:07:34 PM »
@Frugal Lizard You are doing *so great*! It was just 20 days ago that you were saying the class was a "distant goal", and here you are doing the intake activities.  Sorry you have continued pain and the triggering paperwork.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #469 on: June 21, 2023, 08:52:24 AM »
@Frugal Lizard You are doing *so great*! It was just 20 days ago that you were saying the class was a "distant goal", and here you are doing the intake activities.  Sorry you have continued pain and the triggering paperwork.
Unfortunately, this is not the same class. This is a support group for living with pelvic pain that runs parallel with the pain clinic. I have been on the wait list for the pain clinic doctor since September. Apparently the wait is one to two years.

I am not sure if the support group will be helpful even. What more can I learn after 17months of pelvic physio and 8 months of trauma therapy and now a trauma informed occupational therapist? The participants can be anyone with any type of chronic pelvic pain. I refuse to call what I am feeling chronic. I had no pain prior to January 28, 2022.


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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #470 on: June 21, 2023, 10:49:00 AM »
@Frugal Lizard You are doing *so great*! It was just 20 days ago that you were saying the class was a "distant goal", and here you are doing the intake activities.  Sorry you have continued pain and the triggering paperwork.
Unfortunately, this is not the same class. This is a support group for living with pelvic pain that runs parallel with the pain clinic. I have been on the wait list for the pain clinic doctor since September. Apparently the wait is one to two years.

I am not sure if the support group will be helpful even. What more can I learn after 17months of pelvic physio and 8 months of trauma therapy and now a trauma informed occupational therapist? The participants can be anyone with any type of chronic pelvic pain. I refuse to call what I am feeling chronic. I had no pain prior to January 28, 2022.

Well...I wouldn't call that acute pain. That's for sure.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #471 on: June 21, 2023, 01:18:28 PM »
@Frugal Lizard You are doing *so great*! It was just 20 days ago that you were saying the class was a "distant goal", and here you are doing the intake activities.  Sorry you have continued pain and the triggering paperwork.
Unfortunately, this is not the same class. This is a support group for living with pelvic pain that runs parallel with the pain clinic. I have been on the wait list for the pain clinic doctor since September. Apparently the wait is one to two years.

I am not sure if the support group will be helpful even. What more can I learn after 17months of pelvic physio and 8 months of trauma therapy and now a trauma informed occupational therapist? The participants can be anyone with any type of chronic pelvic pain. I refuse to call what I am feeling chronic. I had no pain prior to January 28, 2022.

Well...I wouldn't call that acute pain. That's for sure.
Bloody annoying is what I call it.

Dollar Slice

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #472 on: July 09, 2023, 06:37:32 PM »
How's everyone been doing?

I finally have a prescription for PT for my arm/shoulder. I tried to make an appointment somewhere this weekend, waiting for a confirmation (I used zocdoc). I never trust online appointments at this point as I've had a ton of them canceled, but hopefully this one will stick. My arm/hand has gotten so bad that it's painful to use the computer* for any decent period of time, so I really don't want to keep searching. I was in serious pain all Friday night after finding this one. I searched online and called two different places and struck out before giving up and just using zocdoc. There are so many terrible places out there - they don't tell you what insurance they take on their website, or if they take insurance at all; I called one place and they don't have any appointments for six weeks, and they told me to call back Tuesday to find out about insurance and exactly what day I could get an appointment in August. Give me a break!

I am pretty worried about how painful it will be since things have gotten so bad, painwise and range-of-motion-wise, and the steroid/saline injection I got a couple of weeks ago didn't do much to help. And I don't have a great history with physical therapy. But it's kind of my only option at this point. Wish me luck!

* Actively use the computer, I mean - I can scroll a web page by reading it and using the down arrow key every minute or two, or watch a video, or write a five minute post here and there, but I can't click through lots of pages looking for a physical therapist by using the mouse, or play a video game, or something like that where I'm constantly using my hand for a long time.

oneday

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #473 on: July 09, 2023, 07:52:58 PM »
Good luck with the zodoc appointment. I'm sorry it's still so difficult and painful for you.

I've recently been able to move my arms up, over and down the back while holding on to a lightweight bar.  The left arm still is not great at it and needs to bend at a certain point, but there was a time I couldn't do this at all, even with a stretchy band in place of the bar, so it's progress. It's been about 9 months since the injury and about 7 months since treatment began.

What is everyone else up to?

Dollar Slice

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #474 on: July 10, 2023, 05:29:54 PM »
Good luck with the zodoc appointment.

Good news, they did confirm the appointment :-)

Bonus points: I got a Metropolitan Museum membership this year, and the physical therapy place is a 10 minute walk from the Met, so I can pop in to the museum and have a little peek at some art anytime I have a session.

oneday

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #475 on: July 10, 2023, 11:58:44 PM »
Hooray! Glad there is a sliver of silver lining in all of this.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #476 on: July 11, 2023, 01:13:11 PM »
Good luck with the zodoc appointment.

Good news, they did confirm the appointment :-)

Bonus points: I got a Metropolitan Museum membership this year, and the physical therapy place is a 10 minute walk from the Met, so I can pop in to the museum and have a little peek at some art anytime I have a session.

Yay, I'm so glad you got it!


What is everyone else up to?

I am not in active PT anymore but I'm trying to do enough strength-based exercise to have good injury prevention, and also trying to get my husband interested in this concept. I'm not sure he's there yet.

In keeping with the "gentle movement" theme, I got an ebike (as I have been talking about ad nauseum in multiple threads) which will allow me to have movement and outdoor time when biking powered only by my own person is impractical. (Eg, today: I had gone for a little interval run before work and also it is going to be a scorcher.)

oneday

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #477 on: July 11, 2023, 05:42:48 PM »
Injury prevention is one of my workout goals too! I've been through so many rounds of PT, all for different things. The body is never quite the same afterwards. I guess now it's like preventive PT or something. But with better outcomes, hopefully. Or at least a longer time before the degrading abilities set in.

Have a great time on the bike! I saw a lady today on one...no pedaling and she was still scooting quickly past BF and I as we walked. Seems fun.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2023, 05:44:43 PM by oneday »

RetiredAt63

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #478 on: July 11, 2023, 08:26:04 PM »
Good luck with the zodoc appointment. I'm sorry it's still so difficult and painful for you.

I've recently been able to move my arms up, over and down the back while holding on to a lightweight bar.  The left arm still is not great at it and needs to bend at a certain point, but there was a time I couldn't do this at all, even with a stretchy band in place of the bar, so it's progress. It's been about 9 months since the injury and about 7 months since treatment began.

What is everyone else up to?

Well, my knees and hips are progressing.  I told my physiotherapist about a back spot that has been acting up (since I was 3 or so off and on) and it is a knot (literally, he could feel the bump) in my levator scapulae.  So we are nailing it now.  Why does everything I do at physio hurt?

So 3 times a day I sit with heat on my knees or hips (I have 2 of those grain bags that heat up in the microwave), and my back (a heating pad), and then I do my knee stretches, my hip stretches, and now my back muscle stretches.   This is about an hour and a half total, 30 minutes for each session.  It's a good thing I am retired and have the time!

On a more serious note, it seems like my whole body is stiff, the muscles are tight, the fascia are tight.  I've always been this way, as long as I can remember - I was the stiff awkward one when we did gymnastics in phys ed.  By the time I'm done with all this I will be as flexible as I have ever been in my life.  Weird.  But it makes me wonder why my body has always been doing this.

oneday

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #479 on: July 11, 2023, 09:13:55 PM »
Good news about the progress, but man that is a lot of time each day! Sorry that everything is painful. Sounds like the end goal will be worth it. Although probably there won't be an end to the stretching if you want to retain the flexibility. Just maybe not as much time needed each day as now, if you can change your baseline through PT.

RetiredAt63

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #480 on: July 12, 2023, 06:26:49 AM »
Good news about the progress, but man that is a lot of time each day! Sorry that everything is painful. Sounds like the end goal will be worth it. Although probably there won't be an end to the stretching if you want to retain the flexibility. Just maybe not as much time needed each day as now, if you can change your baseline through PT.

Well it isn't quite as time consuming as it looks - that is when I have my after breakfast/lunch/dinner tea, so it would be down time anyway.   My body is just so comfortable with the heat on the achy spots that I could just sit there for an hour each time - instead I stop after 10-15 minutes and do the stretches.   ;-)  Of course when I was still working I didn't have the luxury of a 15 minute tea break after breakfast and lunch.   ;-)

My physiotherapist and I were joking about how, when I am 92 and in a senior's residence, I will be telling staff that my physiotherapist insists I do these!


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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #481 on: July 12, 2023, 08:37:01 AM »
They will ignore you,  like my 92 year old mother is ignored. Then you will get your daughter to come over and tell them what you want to do, like I’ve been asked to do next week. And it will all be fixed, for as long as your daughter is there that day. But it won’t be permanently fixed.

My physio is going well. I seem to be getting muscles for the first time in my life. Not big muscles. And I’ve got some stuff I can use at my mother’s place.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #482 on: July 12, 2023, 09:03:24 AM »
I am doing well.

I have an OT now and she is consulting with the PT.
I was doing one of the foundation exercises wrong....and for a while I have been doing it wrong....but now I am doing it right and it works so much better!

We are still doing PT every two weeks but next time we are going to have part of the appointment in the gym!

RetiredAt63

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #483 on: July 12, 2023, 11:44:57 AM »
They will ignore you,  like my 92 year old mother is ignored. Then you will get your daughter to come over and tell them what you want to do, like I’ve been asked to do next week. And it will all be fixed, for as long as your daughter is there that day. But it won’t be permanently fixed.

My physio is going well. I seem to be getting muscles for the first time in my life. Not big muscles. And I’ve got some stuff I can use at my mother’s place.

It's more a case of them saying why are you doing that and me saying I'm doing my physio exercises.  But this is all in my imagination.  When Missy and I were doing dog therapy visits it was depressing to see how many residents just sat around the lounge all day watching TV.  Other residents were active, and basically out doing things most days.  I want to end up in group 2.  Even more, I want to live on my own and set my own schedule until I really physically (or mentally, ouch) can't.

All your gardening, you must have muscles!  My next door neighbour and I were so muscled every fall after gardening all summer.  I'm guessing you are getting new muscles developed.  If it's any consolation, I have been tripping over my own feet for decades, I guess I don't life my feet high enough either.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #484 on: July 12, 2023, 02:44:23 PM »
Happy to report that I really liked my therapist at my first appointment today. Feeling hopeful for the first time in a while. She is going to try to work on my nerve pain before the range of motion since it is still too severe to do much in the way of exercises, although she did give me some simple exercises to do as well as some self-massage technique to try and release the nerve.

Meanwhile my back has been killing me lately, since I really needed more pain in my life...

oneday

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #485 on: July 12, 2023, 11:47:55 PM »
My physio is going well. I seem to be getting muscles for the first time in my life. Not big muscles. And I’ve got some stuff I can use at my mother’s place.

That's great! Every little bit helps...just helps to make many things you do on the daily that much easier. And great job getting things to use at your mums!


I am doing well.

I have an OT now and she is consulting with the PT.
I was doing one of the foundation exercises wrong....and for a while I have been doing it wrong....but now I am doing it right and it works so much better!

We are still doing PT every two weeks but next time we are going to have part of the appointment in the gym!

Excellent! Having the appointment in the gym sounds like a bit of progress. It is amazing to see the changes for you in the span of time this thread has been active. You are an inspiration for your dedication!


It's more a case of them saying why are you doing that and me saying I'm doing my physio exercises.  But this is all in my imagination.  When Missy and I were doing dog therapy visits it was depressing to see how many residents just sat around the lounge all day watching TV.  Other residents were active, and basically out doing things most days.  I want to end up in group 2.  Even more, I want to live on my own and set my own schedule until I really physically (or mentally, ouch) can't.

Group 2 all the way, baby!


Happy to report that I really liked my therapist at my first appointment today. Feeling hopeful for the first time in a while. She is going to try to work on my nerve pain before the range of motion since it is still too severe to do much in the way of exercises, although she did give me some simple exercises to do as well as some self-massage technique to try and release the nerve.

Meanwhile my back has been killing me lately, since I really needed more pain in my life...

Hooray for a likable therapist, and hope! Sounds like a sensible first goal. I hope you see big changes quickly now that you have care and a plan. Sorry about the back pain, geeze! Hoping you get a break from that soon.

Metalcat

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #486 on: July 21, 2023, 07:03:29 AM »
Things have been going so much better since my PT and I broke up, especially now that I got some slightly more definitive answers about what's going on with my healing.

I have problems with my knee healing, problems with my psoas, and a nasty, persistent Trendelenburg gait that forces me to use the cane constantly.

Typically a Trendelenburg gait is due to weak glutes, which is SO not my problem, but power training them is helping. I just couldn't do that until now because I didn't know if the femur was fused enough to take actual weighted exercises.

Now that I know that my bone is perfectly healed, I don't have to worry about over loading it.

I've pieced together a rather comprehensive routine based on webpages and videos, and just this week I'm making significant improvement, especially with my knee.

We bought a Bowflex type gym, I'm calling it the Faux-Bow, which is incredibly useful because cables are idea for working small muscles. I love cable machines.

I also picked up a used exercise bike because the knee surgeon said that the rotation is the best thing for getting my knee used to its new orientation and preventing adhesions.

I definitely had adhesions because the first night after doing 2 minutes of zero resistance peddling, I woke up with really sharp tear pain that only lasted a day, and it's been fine since.

I've done thousands of hours of PT exercises addressing so many parts of my body that I'm very good at isolating muscles and judging progress. Plus I've studied substantially more anatomy than they have, not as functionally as they have, of course, but I've learned a lot of that stuff through decades of PT.

Basically, I'm getting much better results DIYing this compared to working with the PT I had for surgery.

My PT, the one I've worked with for years is much better, but I'm not in her province right now, so she can't legally treat me even over zoom. So I'm very, very happy that the routine I've put together for myself is working so well.

I've been saying that something was wrong with my knee since the second week after surgery and everyone kept telling me that of course my knee hurts because a rod was shoved into the bone above it, and all of my FB surgery group folks said they had knee pain too, so I cautiously waited, but I know my knees, and this felt like a torsional pain. Which it turns out it is, and I have to seriously strengthen the medial muscles, which are horribly atrophied.

Anyhoo, all good news since the surgeons told me last week that the only option left to get me walking properly is more intensive and specialized PT. Last week that felt really discouraging because I had been SO diligent with my exercises and I was actually getting worse.

But less than a week later of properly addressing the problems and I'm already feeling improvement.

This aligns with exactly what I said earlier. If you are hitting a wall with PT, it's probably that the PT doesn't have the experience or knowledge to know what to do next and they're just keeping you on a routine that isn't working and just upping the reps to a point that you burn out doing the same thing multiple times a day with minimal results. It's a recipe for failure and giving up and then they blame you for not doing your exercises enough.

Super frustrating, and a common reason why people don't get PT when they need it because they tried it before and it "didn't work."

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #487 on: July 21, 2023, 08:12:42 AM »
Small progress report: after spending time at my mom's (due to a death in the family) and swimming every day in Hood Canal,  I have recommitted to going to my local indoor chlorine filled cold pool.
The first 2-3 times after salt water swimming I had to retreat to the bed with ice (my true love), but after that I noticed definite improvement in lowering my chronic pain (low back, SI joint, psoas, pelvis). It wasn't even "real" swimming, just simple floating and easy backstroke-ing and one of the PT pool exercises I could remember.
After leaving the pool Wednesday (first visit) I felt unstable in my core but made it home, applied ice and couch, and a few hours later felt better. I'm starting with every third day visits for now.
It's been nice to wake up in the morning relatively pain free, even though it doesn't last long.
Also, still taking fairly large doses of CBD tincture which helps get through the day.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #488 on: July 21, 2023, 10:13:20 AM »
PT exercises are going well. @Metalcat especially if I do them correctly in the first place.

I think I need to have a more fulsome explanation of why I am trying to do it in a specific way. If I had been told that any movement on the middle part of my diaphragm would also engage the muscle we were trying to fully relax, I would have been more careful to focus on only moving my lower rib cage out away from my belly button.  Now that I have been practicing for a week and a half, I totally get it. Even though it is a tiny movement, it helps with pain relief immensely.

And this "new" exercise combined with the EMDR therapy work the day after PT? Amazing.
I am sleeping better - like actually waking up feeling rested, looking forward to the day, having nights that I don't remember waking up AT ALL. Without any sleep aid medication!
Whole blocks of time pass during the day that I think about a work thing, or do an activity without doing to reduce or think about pain.
I have moments where I feel like myself period. Not Me with pain.

Earlier this week I realized that I could live well with this amount of pain. I could manage it. And live my live.
Pretty fucking marvelous. 

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #489 on: July 21, 2023, 11:04:58 AM »
Haven't really seen progress yet, but I guess I wasn't expecting a miracle after two sessions :-) I've been doing my exercises every day (I did intentionally skip one exercise a couple of days because it was making me really sore and I thought I should give it time to rest in between, instead of making it ache more and more - I ended up on a 2 on, 1 off schedule for that one).

Right now I wish I could do PT every day since they are doing a lot of massage and heat on the shoulder and back and it feels amazing on all my tight, sore muscles and joints.

I have a nerve conduction study scheduled in a week to see if they can figure out what is going on with the nerve in my arm being so endlessly painful. (And they are doing it on both arms as long as I'm there, since I've got some numbness/tingling on the other side as well, presumably from a different cause, but we're not 100% sure, hence the test.)

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #490 on: July 21, 2023, 11:41:12 AM »
PT exercises are going well. @Metalcat especially if I do them correctly in the first place.

I think I need to have a more fulsome explanation of why I am trying to do it in a specific way. If I had been told that any movement on the middle part of my diaphragm would also engage the muscle we were trying to fully relax, I would have been more careful to focus on only moving my lower rib cage out away from my belly button.  Now that I have been practicing for a week and a half, I totally get it. Even though it is a tiny movement, it helps with pain relief immensely.

And this "new" exercise combined with the EMDR therapy work the day after PT? Amazing.
I am sleeping better - like actually waking up feeling rested, looking forward to the day, having nights that I don't remember waking up AT ALL. Without any sleep aid medication!
Whole blocks of time pass during the day that I think about a work thing, or do an activity without doing to reduce or think about pain.
I have moments where I feel like myself period. Not Me with pain.

Earlier this week I realized that I could live well with this amount of pain. I could manage it. And live my live.
Pretty fucking marvelous.

Amazing, huh?

I never realized just how severe pain you can rather easily live with if you learn how to manage the emotional valence of it until I learned how.

I just got good news about my femur bone being fully fused and its insane how much easier the rather severe pain from the rod is now that I'm not worried about the pain meaning that my femur might have failed to heal. Remove the emotional valence of the pain and the pain is just *there*. It's still severe, it's still fucking my ability to walk, but I'm a thousand times less aware of it.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #491 on: July 26, 2023, 07:55:09 AM »
Had physio Monday. We didn't work out in the gym because some new muscles are now seizing up. Good news, PT helped them release and I have some new imagery to visualizing relaxing and activating different areas.

Pain intensity is about the same.  Pain duration is getting shorter mainly only when I am tired. Or experiencing a trigger. Or sitting. Much of my day is just a normal day if I can break up the sitting stretches with long breaks of movement.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #492 on: July 26, 2023, 09:22:56 AM »
Small progress report: after spending time at my mom's (due to a death in the family) and swimming every day in Hood Canal,  I have recommitted to going to my local indoor chlorine filled cold pool.

Condolences @sonofsven
 I hope your cold water treatments are helping with the pain.
(That was one of my #1 treatments when i was working with a chronic) back injury..

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #493 on: July 26, 2023, 09:27:01 AM »
Am attempting to keep up a somewhat regular breathwork/gentle yoga schedule during the irregularity of summer. It's been only somewhat successful.

Feeling hip and glute ache following an attempt at jogging (was feeling ambitious, it's been ages since I've tried this?) so did some rolling on a ball and will aim for less impactful exercise since I'm feeling like my health needs more focus.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #494 on: July 26, 2023, 11:26:39 PM »
Did some foam rolling of my quads at the gym tonight. Trainer advises to find the most painful point, then "pin and stretch" by bending the knees to 90 degrees. Ouch! Too painful to bend much more than 5 degrees or so...guess I just found what I need to work on next.

sonofsven

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #495 on: July 27, 2023, 08:20:23 AM »
Small progress report: after spending time at my mom's (due to a death in the family) and swimming every day in Hood Canal,  I have recommitted to going to my local indoor chlorine filled cold pool.

Condolences @sonofsven
 I hope your cold water treatments are helping with the pain.
(That was one of my #1 treatments when i was working with a chronic) back injury..
Thank you. The PT exercise at the pool have been helping as well. At least I can do the exercises easier.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #496 on: August 01, 2023, 01:07:34 PM »
I have a nerve conduction study scheduled in a week to see if they can figure out what is going on with the nerve in my arm being so endlessly painful.

This ended up with a sort of "no news is good news" result - there was no smoking gun, which as far as I can tell means there's nothing really terrible or unusual wrong with my arm that's causing enough damage to show up on this test.

Anyway, I had a good PT session today even though this weekend was pretty rough after the nerve conduction/EMG - I had a giant bruise and my arm was really sore from the muscle spasms etc. I skipped some exercises over the weekend because I had some weird soreness that I didn't want to exacerbate. My PT took some exercises off my plate today so now I'm down to just two, which is nice. Especially since I was really struggling with one that didn't seem to be accomplishing anything.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #497 on: August 01, 2023, 10:18:33 PM »
Sorry the test sucked and didn't give you any positive news, but I remember when I went to my first PT for the impingement and was worried that there was something deeply wrong. It was some kind of relief to know it was "normal wrong". Hope you have some relief at least from the "terrible or unusual" specter that has been dispelled.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #498 on: August 02, 2023, 04:10:37 AM »
I've had nerve testing in my arms multiple times because I have lost a lot of strength in my last two fingers and have a lot of painful pins and needles. The tests are always negative because the pain is coming from nerve compression upstream around my neck and chest area.

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Re: The Physical Therapy/Gentle Movement Accountability & Resources Thread
« Reply #499 on: August 02, 2023, 05:18:23 AM »
I've had nerve testing in my arms multiple times because I have lost a lot of strength in my last two fingers and have a lot of painful pins and needles. The tests are always negative because the pain is coming from nerve compression upstream around my neck and chest area.
I had two disks replaced, one for the arm numbness and one for shoulder pain. Miraculous life changing results.


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