Physical therapy, anyone?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So finally, after all these years of hearing about other people who had to undergo the sometimes-grueling task of physical therapy, I’ve been sent there, too. Seems there’s something wrong with this ankle, but nothing broken.

I didn’t know what to expect on my first visit the other day. Was it going to be a torture chamber? A massage parlor? I was just exceedingly thankful that my health insurance paid for it 100%. Yep, you read that right. Completely paid for. Oh, well, except for the tiny copay. But that is just plain nothing ($10) compared to what some people are paying!

I also expected a large place, full of doctors, nurses, therapists, and most of all patients. I expected, I guess, for the place to look more like a hospital, except with a lot of people gimping around, rather than laying in bed.

The place I went to was fairly small, and had a staff of about four, half of which left while I was there for my appointment, since I had a late timeslot. It was a nice, quiet, and friendly place.

And what of my physical therapist? Was she going to be a disciplinarian, a drill instructor who would push me past my breaking point, making me work out in the rain and mud, and then go clean the latrine? Would it be a sadist, bent on pain pain pain by way of extensive electroshock therapy?

Well, neither, of course. She was a very nice, conscientous young lady with a sense of humor. Score! (in a matter of speaking)

I got an ultrasound, which is pretty funky if you have it done to your ankle or foot. I had to lay on my tummy, which meant I could see nothing. I could FEEL her rubbing something on my feet. That felt pretty goldang good, lemme tell you.

I also got this wicked electro therapy thing whereby they zap you for about 15 minutes. As time wears on, it gets hotter and hotter, making your heel feel a wee ill.

Anyway, I go back tonight, and 2-3 times a week for the next month or so. I can’t wait!

How about you guys? Who here has gone the PT route before?

2

My husband is a physical therapist (with a sense of humor!), but I’ve never had to have physical therapy. If you have any questions about the “behind-the-scenes”, I’d be happy to relay them to him (he doesn’t like to post to message boards, but doesn’t mind me relaying stuff).

When not physical therapy-ing, he plays rugby. His patients love it when he comes in limping around, all banged up. They like him to be in pain along with them.

3

Heh. He sounds like quite the card, C3. I wonder if patients prefer male or female therapists? Does your husband think it matters to the patient? Has he been on the receiving end of any “looks,” from people, even though he’s only doing his job?

4

I’m not sure about the male/female thing…I’ll ask him tonight. I do know that he treats a lot of older women (we live in an area with a lot of retirees) and they don’t seem to mind. I know that he’s very careful about making sure there’s always another staff member there when treating someone and, if he’s in a private room with a female patient, that there’s always a female staff member in the room with him.

As far as getting “looks” from people - he’s been threatened with a knife before, does that count? It was a worker’s comp person who was turned down for worker’s comp partially based on my husband’s evaluation. He had a guy once who had a panic attack in the clinic - that was scary.

All in all, he really loves his patients. People are really nice around here. Some of the more rural people bring him vegetables they grow. We live in the Bible Belt, so he’s been given umpteen Bibles (and we’re atheists! and he tells them that!) One of his clients knit us a blanket for our wedding - it’s beautiful. They seem to appreciate the service they get.

5

I imagine the reason he’s getting the Bibles is because he’s an atheist, no? :wink:

6

I recently had a month of PT for a mysterious knee injury. (I went to bed with a slightly stiff knee and woke up in agony with the thing swollen to the size of a grapefruit.)

It was a pretty good experience, all in all. By the time I started the therapy I wasn’t really in pain any more–I mainly needed it to strengthen the relevant muscles so that it wouldn’t happen again. So it was sort of like having a personal trainer for a month, but my insurance paid for most of it.

The only really uncomfortable part was when one of the trainers decided some band of muscle along the side of my thigh needed loosening up. She started with this nice, soothing massage and then really dug in. I had her fingerprints in bruises for the next week.

“This isn’t supposed to be a “feel-good” technique.” Yeah, thanks, I figured that out.

7

Okay - he just called me at work to see if I needed him to pick up anything at the store :slight_smile: .
He said he’s never had a request from a patient for a “differently sexed” therapist. He said he has never felt like it mattered to anyone - they’re in pain and they want it fixed, period. He did say, though, that he can imagine some forms of therapy that he does not do (i.e., incontinence training for women) where a preference might be there.
I just got what you meant by “looks”. Ha! I’m a little slow. If he’s ever had a patient come onto him, he hasn’t mentioned it!

8

Well, I didn’t mean precisely that, but that’s one of them. But let me put it into a situation. Say the patient (female) has a thigh injury, and massage is the answer. When your husband tells the patient what he’ll need to do, does he get a look? As in “um… you’re gonna do what where?”

Further suppose the patient’s male. Does your husband get a look like “dude. you are NOT touching me there!”

Yeah, I know. They’re in pain, and they want it gone. So it’s probably not really a big deal at all.

But if my PT wanted to do that…

9

After I broke my thumb I made an appointment for PT. The first session was free, but after that it was $75 a pop. which was a bit steep, as I was in between insurance at the time.

The PT itself wasn’t bad but they gave me a list of exercises they wanted me to do.

Fine.

There were 20 separate exercises which involved between 50-100 reps of each exercise, and they wanted me to do each exercise between 20-30 times a day.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

I wouldn’t have had time to eat, or work if I did that, so I just did a few each day and things have been fine since.

10

I’ve been through the wringer in the ankle/leg PT department after several surgeries. I’ve had all kinds: male, female, sweet, disciplinarian, competent, clueless: you name it. The thing to keep in mind is a) sometimes oyu will hurt like hell; and b) you have to do what they tell you anyway, especially if they give you exercises to do at home.

Good luck! And the experience is so much less horrible if your therapist is personable. I did develop a crush on one of them, a guy with a very adorable Polish accent…but alas, he was just a temp while the regular one was on vacation. He knew way more than the regular one did, BTW; actually caught an issue which she ahd misse, and which my ankle doc was glad later on that he’d caught.

11

I’ve had PT for hip and knee problems. Not fun at all, and the PT made the problem worse. (The connective tissue in my left knee is kaput; PT stretched it out to the point where it exacerbated the problem.)

OTOH, my PT was HOT. Made the hell worthwhile. :wink:

Robin

12

I have had three knee surgeries in the last two years (both ACLs and repair of a fractured patella). After each, I underwent physical therapy, and was extremely grateful. The therapist can be something like a personal trainer, pushing you when you’re not inclined to push yourself. That can be very valuable. Also, having another person stretch you allows you to stretch better than you can stretch yourself.

I think the quality of experience may depend in part on what exactly is wrong with you. In my case, it was fairly clear cut, and there were established protocols for rehabilitation.

Oh, and I’ll second the cute factor. In my last round of rehabilitation, there were not only cute therapists, but very cute interns. I was never sure about the propriety of asking the interns out, though, and unfortunately they left before I could ask them. (BTW, this is the male perspective talking about cute female therapists/ interns). My primary therapist during this last round was married, but there was a flirtatious edge to our banter, and most guys would agree that flirting with an attractive woman is not a bad way to start the day.

13

Yeah, my PT is quite a fox. Yesterday she was wearing these orangish pants (Halloween, you know), and they were tight.

But I digress!

The sessions I have really aren’t all that grueling, and I do get some exercises to do at home. I may grumble about doing them (especially in the morning), but it’s better than not doing them.

Last night I got heat treatment along with the ultrasound. Oh, and she massaged the ankle.

Sometimes, I pray for a groin pull.

Still, the best part is that it’s all completely paid for, save the copay.

14

I recall that Jim Brady, Reagan’ Press Secretary who was severely wounded in the assasination attempt, called his PTs “physical terrorists.” He was also very grateful to them for driving him past what he thought were his limits.

When I first hurt my back (burying a dead cat), I went to PT for about a month. The first time was pure torture, but the PTs were understanding and kept me motivated. At the end of the process they gave me a list of excercises I could do at home and the gym to keep me from having to come back.

I had a few friends in college who were studying PT at the Medical College of Virginia and they told me that it was nearly as physically taxing for them to do the therapy as it was for the patients - lots of lifting, pulling, holding, massage, etc. They also told me that PTs don’t tend to have very long careers because of the physicality of the profession.

15

I had a bad neck a while back and was prescribed several PT sessions, about 8 in all, as I recall, over about 3 weeks. I loved every minute of it. First, 30 minutes of heat applied to my neck while I lay on my stomach. Very soothing, peaceful, nap-inducing. It was the only time in the day when I actually relaxed and managed to let go of the daily hassles and pressures of work, life, etc. The heat was followed by the ‘electro-stim’, in which gentle electrical impulses was applied to my neck and trapezious muscles. The twitching was really strange at first, but it didn’t hurt at all and I quite enjoyed it. All of it was covered by my insurance, except I think I had co-pays of 10-20 dollars for each visit.
Overall, I’d say it was not only helpful for my neck pain, but also almost as beneficial as an hour of therapy for my attitude. I’d go back in a skinny minute.
As far as viewing my physical therapist in a ‘different’ way, no, that never crossed my mind, though I guess I was more comfortable because my PT was female. Of course, fantasy life is an entirely different thing, and I can readily summon up images of a sexy woman giving me some ‘bonus’ PT during a session. But real life, no.

16

Electro-stim. That’s it. That’s what I get. It’s pretty cool. Makes me sleepy.

17

jeevmon, don’t you have enough work to do? Looks like it’s my turn to spy on you!