Physical Therapy yet again

I'm back for yet another round of Physical Therapy. Those of you who know me know that I am not crazy for PT for a variety of reasons.

So I had my first appointment last Tuesday. The therapist was nice enough, but not nearly as aggressive as I'd like her to be with the massage. I hadn't been to acupuncture for a few weeks and I was needing those knots to be worked out; her gentle massage just didn't cut it for me. Then, and this is really weird, she gave me the heat pack at the end of the session (don't they usually do that at the beginning, to warm the muscles up to work them?)and to top it all off, she put this huge heat pack under my shoulder so I was laying on top of it and all uneven. It really threw me out of whack and I hate myself for not opening my mouth sooner but she was with another patient and I didn't want to be a noodge. I had sciatica all the way home, I think from being all out of whack and not laying flat. I'm telling her not to do that again when I have my next appointment tomorrow.

Had another follow up with Dr. Bartoli. She (and her med student) did a nerve function test on me and, thank goodness, all is fine with my nerves. She thinks the numbness and "funny bone" feeling in my fingers is from the muscles in my shoulder and thoracic region not pulling their share of the weight so to speak and putting pressure on the nerves that affect those parts. I also got a few blessed trigger point injections, which never fail to please.

XRays- Six Month follow up

Oh, of course he comes in the room and goes straight for the xrays, saying how fantastic they look (nothing like patting yourself on the back, there, Dr. B). Then he asks me to stand and says how fantastic I look, how straight, and tall, if a bit too thin (I know I need to put on some weight). I can bend over nicely, but still can't bring my leg up to tie my shoes, etc., but I now have the go ahead to begin stretching so I can tie my shoes.

He insists that the sciatica and tearing pain in my upper back is due to my body slowly readjusting to movements that are still fairly unfamiliar to it, such as walking longer distances more often, sitting for longer periods, and gosh darn it, playing badminton!

Of course, I completely forgot to get a new PT script from him, but I can get that faxed over to Pam by tomorrow. He says light weights (which is what I've been doing) should help to strengthen it up, and with strength will come relief from pain. I hope so! I think I'll even tempt fate and begin to swim again, gently this time, so any pats on the back won't hurt too much.