Physical therapy

[feuervogel]

As I may (or may not) have mentioned, I started physical therapy last week. I'd talked about it with my doctor at my previous physical, before I went off to Europe for 6 weeks last year, and she said she'd refer me if I found one that took my insurance. Then after I got back, there was The Nausea, which sort of took over my health focus for six months. Fun. Anyway, I just had my physical this year, and I got a prescription and went to Duke Sports Medicine.

What we're going to focus on is increasing balance in muscle strength. I have quads of doom, but my hamstrings and inner thighs are very weak, and the PT says addressing that should help with a lot of my issues. So I have to do this exercise to isolate and strengthen the hamstring and inner thigh 2-3 times a day. I fear I may be doing it wrong, even though I'm doing it the same way as before, because I get this cramp in my lower ribcage partway into the sequence. It's the same cramp I've gotten before when I bend down and get up wrong, so idk, maybe it's a sign that the muscles are adjusting. It only lasts as long as I'm doing the exercise. My lower back didn't hurt as much when I accidentally fell asleep on my back, or when I was lying on my stomach for a shoulder rub. Progress!

The PT said to call if it hurt, but they're closed today (for the holiday), so maybe tomorrow if it's still doing that. I'm still working out the exact position I need to be in, since I don't have the same equipment they do (and am improvising with the box my toaster oven came in, a phone book, a towel, and another box to get the 90-degree angles in my hips and knees).

Comments

[anacoluthon.livejournal.com]

If your PT has a picture they can send you of someone doing the exercise, that might help. Elizabeth would draw me little stick figures that were surprisingly helpful, but photos work well too. It's good when you can't remember if your weight needs to be over your knees or over your hips in a lunge or something like that.

[feuervogel]

She printed off a page from a PT manual with pictures and words. My main problem is getting the props adjusted right. I think I got it right now, though.