This holiday season I have been granted the gift of movement.
I am back to water aerobics, 2nd class in a row, although I still can't do all the movements. I do the best that I can and it is so wonderful to move in the water once again. The exercise class is almost empty this time of year, which is good for me.
My physical therapist has now given me a number of exercises to do, to relieve pain, to start the process of strengthening my abdominal muscles, and now, to try to stretch my right leg so I can straighten it without pain. She had me on the treadmill today, and had me do a stretching exercise with a long belt.
January 6 I get results of my MRI and maybe then I will know why I am still having the issues I am having. Or maybe the surgeon will tell me that the MRI didn't show anything.
I remember the joke about the man asking his surgeon if he'll be able to play the piano after his surgery, the surgeon says "of course you will" and the man says "that's funny, I can't play it now". I have never danced. I was born with two left feet. I envy the people on Dancing with the Stars who can turn and spin and do all those movements. But maybe, when I emerge from this back problem stuff, I will be able to dance.
Or maybe regular moving around will feel like dance. Because now I know what it is like to be in such pain one can barely move.
So now I am grateful for my everyday walking, and for being able to get back into the pool.
Showing posts with label Physical Therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Physical Therapy. Show all posts
Monday, December 21, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Back in the Water Again
Today, thanks to physical therapy, I was able to return to my water aerobics class. Mind you, I can't do most of the exercises yet, but I wanted to be there even if I couldn't truly participate. After all, I've been going to water aerobics for 14 years and I'm not about to quit now. The physical therapist agrees water walking is good for me: but no twisting, no bending, no using water for resistance, no anything that even would start to give me pain or stress my back.
Water walking on a somewhat numb right foot was interesting.
It's really too bad that the classes more suited for people with various "issues": arthritis, etc. - are during the day, as if people who work during the day don't have a need for, say, arthritis classes. But I understand a lot of their clientèle is elderly and the elderly tend to go more to the day classes.
My regular instructor was out of town, and will be the next two weeks. So the class was taught by two teen lifeguards. One wore flip flops and read from a list of exercises. "Do Nemos. You know what a Nemo is, right?" she offered as we moved around. I stayed in the pool about 1/2 hour, including walking around before the instructors showed up. To be honest, I would have been disappointed if I was in peak shape. But in a way it was just what I needed for a first time back.
My upper body is going to hate me in the morning.
Wait till I tell my therapist!
Water walking on a somewhat numb right foot was interesting.
It's really too bad that the classes more suited for people with various "issues": arthritis, etc. - are during the day, as if people who work during the day don't have a need for, say, arthritis classes. But I understand a lot of their clientèle is elderly and the elderly tend to go more to the day classes.
My regular instructor was out of town, and will be the next two weeks. So the class was taught by two teen lifeguards. One wore flip flops and read from a list of exercises. "Do Nemos. You know what a Nemo is, right?" she offered as we moved around. I stayed in the pool about 1/2 hour, including walking around before the instructors showed up. To be honest, I would have been disappointed if I was in peak shape. But in a way it was just what I needed for a first time back.
My upper body is going to hate me in the morning.
Wait till I tell my therapist!
Monday, November 23, 2009
The Long and Winding Road Back to Where I Once Belonged
I'm watching the freestyle round on the finale of Dancing with the Stars.
I saw Kelly Osbourne's freestyle final performance, danced to "I Will Survive".
She fell....and smiled. Not the best dancer, she still shone; she still had a great time.
It's going to be a long time before I can ever be on that dance floor.
It's been an interesting road, these past 8 weeks since I injured my back and learned the meaning of immobility, sciatica, leg spasms, and not being able to dress yourself. In the range of back injuries this probably didn't even rate a 2 out of 10. I've heard the stories of those who have endured treatment after treatment, and surgery after surgery. I know how lucky I've been for so much of my life, and now I've known what it is like to lose your mobility, your ability to even put a shoe or sock on, or to sit for more than a few minutes.
Perhaps I shouldn't even use the title I've chosen for this entry. I think especially of people who have had strokes. Their road is so much longer. I've experienced only a fraction of what they have to go through to reclaim their lives.
Now, when I see those high energy dancers on the dance shows I love, I think of the pain, the stress fractures, the dislocations, that these dancers endure. They get treated, then go out there, smile, and deliver, and keep dancing through the pain.
Tomorrow's session may be my last with the PT. Because of my two therapists, I can dress myself again, I can sit again, I can walk again. I do my theraputic exercises. I sit at work with a lumbar roll. I watch my posture. I walk, but not uphill. One day I may even return to the water aerobics class I've attended for 14 years. Do they even miss me?
Next week I see an orthopedic surgeon and find out what is next on the agenda.
I hope I carry on like Donny Osmond did, with a show stopping performance, drawing on all his years as a Vegas performer.
Me dance? Maybe one day.
I saw Kelly Osbourne's freestyle final performance, danced to "I Will Survive".
She fell....and smiled. Not the best dancer, she still shone; she still had a great time.
It's going to be a long time before I can ever be on that dance floor.
It's been an interesting road, these past 8 weeks since I injured my back and learned the meaning of immobility, sciatica, leg spasms, and not being able to dress yourself. In the range of back injuries this probably didn't even rate a 2 out of 10. I've heard the stories of those who have endured treatment after treatment, and surgery after surgery. I know how lucky I've been for so much of my life, and now I've known what it is like to lose your mobility, your ability to even put a shoe or sock on, or to sit for more than a few minutes.
Perhaps I shouldn't even use the title I've chosen for this entry. I think especially of people who have had strokes. Their road is so much longer. I've experienced only a fraction of what they have to go through to reclaim their lives.
Now, when I see those high energy dancers on the dance shows I love, I think of the pain, the stress fractures, the dislocations, that these dancers endure. They get treated, then go out there, smile, and deliver, and keep dancing through the pain.
Tomorrow's session may be my last with the PT. Because of my two therapists, I can dress myself again, I can sit again, I can walk again. I do my theraputic exercises. I sit at work with a lumbar roll. I watch my posture. I walk, but not uphill. One day I may even return to the water aerobics class I've attended for 14 years. Do they even miss me?
Next week I see an orthopedic surgeon and find out what is next on the agenda.
I hope I carry on like Donny Osmond did, with a show stopping performance, drawing on all his years as a Vegas performer.
Me dance? Maybe one day.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The McKenzie Method - Or My initial Adventures with Sciatica
So much to blog about, so little time...especially as we are probably going to get our first frost tonight.
I promised I would write about by initial adventures in physical therapy-and I will.
For now, the intial evaluation of my back condition with all that pain radiating down my right leg the past month (affecting my mobility and even ability to dress myself) reveals a possibility of a herniated disc. Of course that can't be fully diagnosed without an MRI and my insurance (thank heavens I do have insurance) won't pay for an MRI until I undergo physical therapy.
So into the torture chamber I go. Of course, the laugh here is that my insurance only covers a certain number of sessions. Almost like a miniature Catch-22. I can't be diagnosed without physical therapy, but if the physical therapy makes me better then I will have to stop it, then maybe I will lose my progress, and my back will go out again.... So I hope they can teach me enough for me to go forward on my own.
When entering the physical therapist's....er, office? or gym? many people were there, on all types of equipment. It was almost like a gym for the injured, with personal tortu....I mean, teachers.
What this physical therapist is using with me is something called the McKenzie Method. Sciatica is actually a symptom, not a condition.
To quote from the McKenzie website:
The fascinating part is the "centralization" theory.
And, the physical therapist wants me to note a lot of things while doing these exercises: pain level, where exactly the pain is, how the location and type of pain is changing day to day, and so forth. In other words, trying to make me self-aware. Yikes, a lot to try to do. But it is all worth it if I can move again.
It's helping me exercise my mind, for sure.
With these back problems I join a select group of people. One of those clubs people never want to join, but here I am.
What a pain in the....
I promised I would write about by initial adventures in physical therapy-and I will.
For now, the intial evaluation of my back condition with all that pain radiating down my right leg the past month (affecting my mobility and even ability to dress myself) reveals a possibility of a herniated disc. Of course that can't be fully diagnosed without an MRI and my insurance (thank heavens I do have insurance) won't pay for an MRI until I undergo physical therapy.
So into the torture chamber I go. Of course, the laugh here is that my insurance only covers a certain number of sessions. Almost like a miniature Catch-22. I can't be diagnosed without physical therapy, but if the physical therapy makes me better then I will have to stop it, then maybe I will lose my progress, and my back will go out again.... So I hope they can teach me enough for me to go forward on my own.
When entering the physical therapist's....er, office? or gym? many people were there, on all types of equipment. It was almost like a gym for the injured, with personal tortu....I mean, teachers.
What this physical therapist is using with me is something called the McKenzie Method. Sciatica is actually a symptom, not a condition.
To quote from the McKenzie website:
"With the McKenzie approach, physical therapy and exercise used to extend the spine can help "centralize" the patient’s pain by moving it away from the extremities (leg or arm) to the back. Back pain is usually better tolerated than leg pain or arm pain, and the theory of the approach is that centralizing the pain allows the source of the pain to be treated rather than the symptoms."The McKenzie method is not meant as a "do it yourself" project, although a lot of information is available on their website. "Do not try this at home on your own!" is what I would say to the reader. I am not a medical professional giving any kind of advice, just a suffering person describing her journey back to health.
The fascinating part is the "centralization" theory.
And, the physical therapist wants me to note a lot of things while doing these exercises: pain level, where exactly the pain is, how the location and type of pain is changing day to day, and so forth. In other words, trying to make me self-aware. Yikes, a lot to try to do. But it is all worth it if I can move again.
It's helping me exercise my mind, for sure.
With these back problems I join a select group of people. One of those clubs people never want to join, but here I am.
What a pain in the....
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