finally had what felt like a fruitful physical therapy session today

after, what, like 3 or 4 sessions that seemed to be doing more harm than good? especially last week's session where my pain and stiffness flared up so bad at the end that i was barely able to hobble out of the building. people were staring. the physical therapist asked me how my pain level's been doing since then and how i felt after the session, and i told her straight up i don't really feel much better at all since we began, and i was in a lot of pain and had a lot of stiffness after last week's session, mostly because of how she was having lay down to do all the stretches and whatnot the entire time, even though i had told her in the beginning that laying down is one of the things that makes the pain flare up the most. every morning i wake up all stiff and stoved up and in pain on my right hip/lower back area, and it takes a good hour or so of sitting down in a comfortable chair with extra cushioning for it to mellow out, and even briefly laying down for a bit on the PT tables or my bed to do some stretches makes it flare up too.

so today she switched up the program a bit and had me do some stretches and strength-building exercises standing up or sitting down instead of laying down, and also she was asking me about what were some of the exercises the previous physical therapists had me doing before that seemed to work well, and so i was telling her about what they had me doing at the sessions there, and also what they had me doing for the at-home regimen, some of which i have tried to start back up again recently but had to ease back on most of because it was making the area where i had the hernia feel some discomfort.

so she told me i should try to do less intense versions of some of those exercises that make the back pain feel better but aggravate the pain where the hernia was, like for instance instead of doing squats with weights do sit-to-stands like they had me doing before initially, and to do rows standing up with resistance bands instead of bent over with dumbbells, and to do wall push-ups instead of incline push-ups. we did some of those and a few other things during the session, and i felt pretty good afterward. we stopped at Aldi on the way back and i did kinda feel some pain and soreness from just walking around though. i should have gotten a cart to lean on. but overall i think this session went a lot better than it has been going so far, and i think i'm gonna stick with it, instead of trying to find a different PT.

and for part of my session today i worked with one of the aides too for the first time, instead of working directly with the PT herself the entire time, and i didn't recognize the guy at first but i eventually realized he was one of the few people remaining who worked there when i was coming there before, so we caught up a little and had a nice chat, and that was good. it was nice to see a familiar face. out of like the 15 or so people who are normally staffed there any given day, i've only seen like 4 people i think who were working there when i was coming there before.

Yay progress.

Honestly, I'm glad that they seemed more receptive to your feedback, as they should, and that they even asked about what kind of exercises you were previously doing. Seems like this should've been addressed at first visit, but regardless it's good.

And finding out there's still one of the good ones left is a pleasant surprise that only adds to the positivity. Sounds like you came away from this visit mentally and physically improved. Even if not, at least you weren't in massive pain like last time.

Hope this trend continues.

MorbidFaithless posted...

Yay progress.

yes!

Aridi posted...

Honestly, I'm glad that they seemed more receptive to your feedback, as they should, and that they even asked about what kind of exercises you were previously doing. Seems like this should've been addressed at first visit, but regardless it's good.

And finding out there's still one of the good ones left is a pleasant surprise that only adds to the positivity. Sounds like you came away from this visit mentally and physically improved. Even if not, at least you weren't in massive pain like last time.

Hope this trend continues.

thank you! yeah, i agree, this should have been addressed the first visit, i even brought the print-outs that i was given previously for the exercises they had me doing at home, and i talked a little bit about what we had been doing in-office, but she didn't seem very interested in that at the time.

Just curious, but what kind of exercises do you do at home? Is it just stretching stuff, or do you use resistance bands, or even weights? I know laying down is an issue, does that rule out inversion tables? My mother had a lumbar fusion done maybe 10 years ago, hence my questions.

Aridi posted...

Just curious, but what kind of exercises do you do at home? Is it just stretching stuff, or do you use resistance bands, or even weights? I know laying down is an issue, does that rule out inversion tables? My mother had a lumbar fusion done maybe 10 years ago, hence my questions.

the exercises they had started me off with when i was going there before were mostly things with resistance bands and body weight. and some simple stretches. seated hamstring stretch, seated piriformis stretch, a couple other ones. with the resistance bands i was doing seated marches, side stepping, standing anti-rotation press, hip abductions/extensions/flexions which together they referred to as just "four-quads" cuz it's basically just moving your quad in the four different directions with resistance, rows, shoulder extensions, triceps extensions. and then with just body weight there was sit-to-stands and wall pushups.

as i progressed, by the end of my third round of sessions, a lot of these had evolved to be done with weights instead of resistance bands. so the standing rows and extensions with the bands became bent-over rows with dumbbells and behind the head triceps extensions, the sit-to-stands became squats, the wall pushups became incline pushups (my back still couldn't take regular pushups, even when i was at the height of managing my condition). i also on my own started doing some additional dumbbell exercises because i felt good from lifting weights and wanted to round out the routine i was doing to not only build core and back strength but to start to build a bit of general physique, so i added biceps curls, lateral raises, shoulder presses, and a couple other things. i ran all of it by the PT assistant who was guiding my in-office sessions at the time. and he also added on a couple things i could do with the dumbbells to further address my back issues like hip bridges and loaded carries. i was doing all of those right up until i started noticing significant pain that i later found out was a hernia.

this time, they haven't really given me any exercises to do at home, just stretches. all of them while laying down too, which i would prefer not to have to do, especially since some of them feel like they are stretching the same exact areas that the ones i can do sitting down. although in all fairness, in a couple cases the ones laying down do feel like they stretch more . i brought that up at today's sessions and she gave me another kind of hamstring stretch i can do sitting up on the edge of the PT table or bed with one leg hanging off and the other one laid straight. other than that, i did recently start back up some of the dumbbell exercises i was doing before with smaller weights, and it was helping with my back pain, but i had to ease off on a lot of it because it was making the lingering pain from where my hernia was flare up again. we also talked about this today, and she advised to go back closer to square one and try doing the wall pushups and sit-to-stands again instead of trying to push through the pain with the squats and the incline pushups.

i have tried an inversion table before, a number of years back before my lower back pain was bad enough as to be a constant issue, and actually it was mostly for the pain and stiffness from an upper back injury i sustained while working at Walmart. it did provide some relief for my upper back, but it actually made my lower back hurt, so i haven't tried that since. i don't think it's for me, unfortunately.

I appreciate the response. It sounds kinda difficult when you're trying to work on the back pain, but you're hindered by core pain on the other side from the hernia. With those kinda roadblocks I can see why you have so much difficulty finding adequate relief.

I know none of this matters and I'm a nobody on CE, but I still hope you provide updates and continue to improve.

Aridi posted...

I appreciate the response. It sounds kinda difficult when you're trying to work on the back pain, but you're hindered by core pain on the other side from the hernia. With those kinda roadblocks I can see why you have so much difficulty finding adequate relief.

I know none of this matters and I'm a nobody on CE, but I still hope you provide updates and continue to improve.

thank you. and it does matter. i appreciate your kinds words and sympathies, and your interest in following along with my progress.