Physical Therapy

Friday 6/11/10
By this time, I had not taken my muscle relaxers during the day for six days. I still took them at night to sleep. I was happy to be off of the meds at least during the day.

First day of PT and I was excited with the thought of moving again. I have been stuck “resting” for three weeks, now. My body was feeling sore from inactivity. After the initial assessment, I was hooked up to an electro-stimulating device. Staff told me that it was “for pain.” The sensations were strange but not unpleasant. I was supposed to receive a massage after that, which I refused. Since the injury was like a massive muscle ripping bruise, touching it was extremely painful. I could not sit on a chair normally, I couldn’t drive and I had to lie on my side to sleep. There was no way I was getting a massage that day without me defending myself. Lastly, I was taught some stretching exercises to do every day. I was happy to be able to exercise, finally!

Monday 6/14/10
I have been doing my exercises everyday, twice a day. My back is not as sore to touch, but I keep feeling like I am laying on a small rock. I even cleared the rug and checked my clothes. It was strange to feel like there was an object in my back.

The PT routine seems pretty set. They explained to me that the goal was to loosen the muscle up so that it can be stretched back to its normal position. So, I was hooked up to electrodes and afterwards offered a massage. I was feeling better, so I thought I might be able to handle the touching. She went pretty slowly and I guided her to the pressure I could handle. It was unpleasant. Afterwards, I did my exercises and then was manipulated by the Physical Therapist.

He added another exercise to my routine. I asked him if I could possibly start walking. I also promised that I would not try to run (even though that is all I wanted to do). He agreed that 12-15 minutes a day would be fine and also gave me some exercises I could do in the pool. Yay! I was so happy.

Wednesday 6/16/10
I have been walking exactly 15 minutes a day and doing four of the new pool exercises on top of the back exercises that I was assigned. I feel great! I have not had to take the muscle relaxers at night for the past two nights. Finally, I feel that I am making some real progress.

Encouraged, I went into the PT session. My plan was to ask for a couple of extra minutes for my walks. I was hooked up to a different electro-stimulation device. The pulses and sensations were slightly different from the other one and it seemed a bit more intense. Afterwards, he came in for the massage. The force of the massage was increased and almost felt good. I still had some tenderness and the site of the injury was still sensitive to pressure. The massage felt good and bad, back and forth. I completed my exercises afterwards.

The Physical Therapist came over and started his manipulations. I told him about my progress and that I had not taken muscle relaxing meds to sleep. I also asked him if I could increase my walking time or intensity. We discussed changing the dynamics of the walk and adding 5 minutes of a light jog. I was elated! He performed his usual procedure and then added an intense back manipulation. I felt fine and then left. This whole session was intense!

I felt so good that I wanted to try going to the store. I had not been able to go anywhere for any length of time. My back would get sore, then painful, and then start to spasm. We decided to go quickly and get the few things on our list. By the time we were done I felt very tired and a little sore. We went home and I crashed, I slept for 4 hours. When I woke up, I was very sore. I barely did my original exercises and I had trouble sitting on the couch again. My back was tight and full of pain. I took a muscle relaxer to sleep that night.

The next day was no better. I was either stuck on the couch or in bed with ice. I felt defeated.