Physical Therapy – What’s it Like?
The only good thing that came out of my rheumatologist appointment was the assignment of physical therapy for my back. Ever since I trained for the Hood to Coast relay last summer, I’ve had issues with my hip, which in reality turned out to be my lower back. Plus, since I wear my tension in my shoulders, I have trouble with the ribs in my back twisting.
On to the physical therapist. You enter a large room with several curtained off areas like when to you go emergency at the hospital and a big room full of exercise equipment like treadmills, fitness balls, parallel bars to walk between, fitness benches, weights, etc. You meet with the physical therapist in one of the curtained off rooms. He has a computer or your chart to check your records.
The first day I stood and bent several ways while he felt my muscles and bones. Then I laid on a small bed and did several more movements, all testing for muscle strength and range of mobility. This is all being recorded on the computer. Finally they give you some exercises, show you how to do them and let you do them once. The exercises are printed off and sent home with you.
People with more chronic issues use the equipment in the big room. Then they are evaluated for their progress before being sent home only to come back again and again. I only went twice as I could do all my exercises at home. And my pain wasn’t chronic.
The therapist was incredibly nice and very patient. They don’t make you do anything that causes any pain at all. In fact when they explain the exercises you need to do, they stress the point of stopping when you feel any pain. They work out an exercise program with you and monitor and adjust this plan with each visit.
Ever the inquisitive type, I always need to know the what and why of my ailments. Since I have a slight curve in my spine, it causes the muscles to be unequal on either side of my body. When I increased my fitness routine suddenly, my unequal muscles weren’t happy and reacted. Since I didn’t stop, I actually caused an injury. I was told by the physical therapist to quit doing any fitness that hurt for a minimum of one week. Reluctantly I did as told and, okay, so he was right. All my lower back symptoms were gone by the end of the week. So now I am working on a weight training program to strengthen the muscles on both sides before I get to go back to doing my complete fitness routine.
My upper back is a different story. That’s caused by sitting at a desk all day and leaning forward when I type. So he has me do simple shoulder rolls every so often. Plus for a back support, I use a rolled up towel. The towel can be adjusted for your body type. Some days are better than others for the upper back.
I asked the therapist several times if my issues were age related. He said, maybe a little, but more to do with the unequal muscles. Points to him for his answer. Getting old is hard enough without your doctor telling you so!
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