PT Sessions #1 & #2
Jan. 25th, 2011 02:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gerisullivanThis is my first experience with physical therapy. Well, first-hand, that is. I helped my sister do her PT stretches and exercises after her hip replacement, and have some familiarity with post-stroke PT due to my mom's experience with that.
The summary keyword du jour is "bliss."
Session #1 was primarily assessment along with the introduction of a four stretches. I attribute those stretches with my making it through a step-heavy weekend in pretty much the same condition I started it. On the pain front, anyway.
Session #2 was today. It was the first of 6 ultrasound treatments on both knees, deep massage of a particular problem spot (ITB, right knee) by the self-identified "torturer," and the introduction of three exercises to add to the stretches. We also went through the stretches to confirm I'm doing them correctly.
And, wow. Yes, the deep massage was uncomfortable, but no more so than the knee pain itself at its worse. Well, except for perhaps a moment or two. The stretches and exercises right after that started out, um, really quite noticeable in the right knee, but by the time I'd finished them, they'd helped relieve the pain.
Then I came home and had four full hours awake and all but pain free for the first time in a full month, and quite likely since mid-November. It was something like 0.5 on a 10-point pain scale rather than the usual 2-3 and the occasional 6-7.
It was bliss.
When the right knee started to bother me again, I quickly iced it even though the pain was still really quite mild. The therapist warned me that the deep massage might well have that effect and promised me it will feel better tomorrow.
At this point, the ITB pain is gone, gone, gone. My right calf is also far less tight than it's been anytime since the big flare-up with all the walking at Mount Sinai just after New Year's. The bursitis is clearly still at play and other parts of my knees are letting me know they're far from problem-free. Still, I'm surprised and delighted to have spent the last 12 hours in full instant gratification girl mode. Back in 2001, when I had plantar fasciitis, it took months of home exercises to get this kind of relief.
There's still a lot of work ahead, and no doubt varying levels of pain, too. I anticipated that. It's the instant gratification bliss I didn't so much as dream of. Yet here it is. Win!
The summary keyword du jour is "bliss."
Session #1 was primarily assessment along with the introduction of a four stretches. I attribute those stretches with my making it through a step-heavy weekend in pretty much the same condition I started it. On the pain front, anyway.
Session #2 was today. It was the first of 6 ultrasound treatments on both knees, deep massage of a particular problem spot (ITB, right knee) by the self-identified "torturer," and the introduction of three exercises to add to the stretches. We also went through the stretches to confirm I'm doing them correctly.
And, wow. Yes, the deep massage was uncomfortable, but no more so than the knee pain itself at its worse. Well, except for perhaps a moment or two. The stretches and exercises right after that started out, um, really quite noticeable in the right knee, but by the time I'd finished them, they'd helped relieve the pain.
Then I came home and had four full hours awake and all but pain free for the first time in a full month, and quite likely since mid-November. It was something like 0.5 on a 10-point pain scale rather than the usual 2-3 and the occasional 6-7.
It was bliss.
When the right knee started to bother me again, I quickly iced it even though the pain was still really quite mild. The therapist warned me that the deep massage might well have that effect and promised me it will feel better tomorrow.
At this point, the ITB pain is gone, gone, gone. My right calf is also far less tight than it's been anytime since the big flare-up with all the walking at Mount Sinai just after New Year's. The bursitis is clearly still at play and other parts of my knees are letting me know they're far from problem-free. Still, I'm surprised and delighted to have spent the last 12 hours in full instant gratification girl mode. Back in 2001, when I had plantar fasciitis, it took months of home exercises to get this kind of relief.
There's still a lot of work ahead, and no doubt varying levels of pain, too. I anticipated that. It's the instant gratification bliss I didn't so much as dream of. Yet here it is. Win!
