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adrian_turtlePhysical therapy seems like such a good idea, in theory. It seems like it should be safer than drugs or surgery or almost anything a person can do to treat an injury. I know my body is fucked up (to use a technical term) but it's incredibly frustrating to find yet another way in which physical therapy is not working for me.
I saw my primary care doctor Thursday night. It was a routine follow-up appointment for all the chronic garbage. After sorting out the problem with the medication that requires air conditioning (whew!), saying I really ought to schedule a comprehensive physical sometime soon, and doing all the usual stuff, he asked, "is there anything else you want to talk about?" Nice of him to ask, really. I mentioned the problem I've been having with my ankle, which is mild but persistant. I don't know if I'm getting an awful lot of very mild sprains of the same ankle, or one sprain that's only almost healing rather than quite healing all the way. The doctor looked at both my ankles, watched me take a few steps, and asked questions (some of which seemed sensible.) He recommended an exercise for strengthening ankles and improving proprioreception, and said if it didn't work I could try an aircast or some other kind of physical therapy.
My proprioreception is pretty bad, these days. I continue to be amazed at how much worse it was before I started taking Topamax, and amazed at what the change has done for my quality of life. I thought of it as a sense, not a muscle, so I didn't think a person could do anything to improve it. Of course I was tempted. And I liked the idea of doing something to *increase* function, rather than limiting it with a cast.
The doctor recommended sitting in a chair without shoes (so far so good) and rolling a ball between the floor and the sole of my foot for about 15 minutes. I did about 5 minutes with each foot to start, thinking my other foot might not be injured at the moment, but could certainly use more strength and proprioreception. 15 minutes later, I realized I was in trouble when I tried to stand up. My knees hurt, a lot. So does my lower back. Have any of you done this kind of exercise before? Did you have this kind of reaction to it? What happened?
The doctor asked about my walking, which seemed sensible. An ankle that hurts after a short walk is obviously worse off than one that only hurts after a long walk. But walking is important to me, as a lifestyle issue. It's also the only kind of exercise I get these days, which I expect to be important to my doctor. (The question he asked that didn't make sense to me was "Do you walk for exercise, or because you want to get somewhere?" I'm usually walking to get somewhere, but exercise is one of several reasons I choose to walk instead of taking the bus.) Before I started, it was only a little uncomfortable to walk half a mile slowly in good shoes. I was unhappy about it because I value being able to walk further, and faster, and it's nice to be able to wear sandals in hot weather. But the thing with my knees and back is so intensely unpleasant I really don't want to walk across the street for groceries, or even walk across the apartment for a glass of water. This is presumably even less good for me than the limited walking I'd been doing for the last couple of months.
It's really disturbingly unpleasant that I managed to mess myself up so badly, so quickly. Sometimes there's a fall, or a cut, or something catastrophic where you just know right away you're dealing with a significant injury. This wasn't like that. I rolled the stupid ball for 5 minutes, thinking it was a little uncomfortable, but that I was doing something that would be good for me. The horrible sharp pains and flickers of numbness came later, after I had dutifully done the same thing to the other side. I hate this. My hand pain is bad, often appalling...but it doesn't disturb me the way back pain does. Maybe it's just because I'm not accustomed to it. It still has power to scare me.
I first had physical therapy 22 years ago. I've tried it for ankle injuries, hand injuries, migraine, and chronic pain. It has never done me any good at all. More often than not, it's done me quite a bit of harm. I'm not going to do it anymore.
I saw my primary care doctor Thursday night. It was a routine follow-up appointment for all the chronic garbage. After sorting out the problem with the medication that requires air conditioning (whew!), saying I really ought to schedule a comprehensive physical sometime soon, and doing all the usual stuff, he asked, "is there anything else you want to talk about?" Nice of him to ask, really. I mentioned the problem I've been having with my ankle, which is mild but persistant. I don't know if I'm getting an awful lot of very mild sprains of the same ankle, or one sprain that's only almost healing rather than quite healing all the way. The doctor looked at both my ankles, watched me take a few steps, and asked questions (some of which seemed sensible.) He recommended an exercise for strengthening ankles and improving proprioreception, and said if it didn't work I could try an aircast or some other kind of physical therapy.
My proprioreception is pretty bad, these days. I continue to be amazed at how much worse it was before I started taking Topamax, and amazed at what the change has done for my quality of life. I thought of it as a sense, not a muscle, so I didn't think a person could do anything to improve it. Of course I was tempted. And I liked the idea of doing something to *increase* function, rather than limiting it with a cast.
The doctor recommended sitting in a chair without shoes (so far so good) and rolling a ball between the floor and the sole of my foot for about 15 minutes. I did about 5 minutes with each foot to start, thinking my other foot might not be injured at the moment, but could certainly use more strength and proprioreception. 15 minutes later, I realized I was in trouble when I tried to stand up. My knees hurt, a lot. So does my lower back. Have any of you done this kind of exercise before? Did you have this kind of reaction to it? What happened?
The doctor asked about my walking, which seemed sensible. An ankle that hurts after a short walk is obviously worse off than one that only hurts after a long walk. But walking is important to me, as a lifestyle issue. It's also the only kind of exercise I get these days, which I expect to be important to my doctor. (The question he asked that didn't make sense to me was "Do you walk for exercise, or because you want to get somewhere?" I'm usually walking to get somewhere, but exercise is one of several reasons I choose to walk instead of taking the bus.) Before I started, it was only a little uncomfortable to walk half a mile slowly in good shoes. I was unhappy about it because I value being able to walk further, and faster, and it's nice to be able to wear sandals in hot weather. But the thing with my knees and back is so intensely unpleasant I really don't want to walk across the street for groceries, or even walk across the apartment for a glass of water. This is presumably even less good for me than the limited walking I'd been doing for the last couple of months.
It's really disturbingly unpleasant that I managed to mess myself up so badly, so quickly. Sometimes there's a fall, or a cut, or something catastrophic where you just know right away you're dealing with a significant injury. This wasn't like that. I rolled the stupid ball for 5 minutes, thinking it was a little uncomfortable, but that I was doing something that would be good for me. The horrible sharp pains and flickers of numbness came later, after I had dutifully done the same thing to the other side. I hate this. My hand pain is bad, often appalling...but it doesn't disturb me the way back pain does. Maybe it's just because I'm not accustomed to it. It still has power to scare me.
I first had physical therapy 22 years ago. I've tried it for ankle injuries, hand injuries, migraine, and chronic pain. It has never done me any good at all. More often than not, it's done me quite a bit of harm. I'm not going to do it anymore.
