Physical Therapy Ch. 6

First off, congratulations to all of you who stuck it out and made it to the finish line of the Boston Marathon in that heat today. Hearing about the temperatures almost made me glad I wasn't there.

Almost.

Inspired by these marathoners' example of doing what needed to be done when it needed to be done, I went to physical therapy with a spring in my step....and the news after six weeks was good. My joint is still not perfect, but it was better than last week. And Sue took as a good sign the fact that I had less pain all week (even with all the air travel and sitting, cute little baby holding, bag carrying and Saturday's hike).

I had an adjustment (these feel so good) and some needling (this actually hurt a bit, but she got right into the tender spots around my sacrum, so I think later it will help). She also did some intramuscular stimulation with the needles. She'd done this last week, too, but I forgot to mention it. I felt it more this time, though. Here's a definition:

Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS)
Intramuscular stimulation (IMS) is a perpendicular dry needling technique, deep into the motor points and muscular tendinous junctions to release muscle shortening. It is effective but may be painful.

It sort of feels like a dull little pinprick shock. For me, it isn't painful. But it is uncomfortably weird.

Then I got two new exercises, one designed to loosen up my tight mid-back muscles and another to activate my multifidus muscle, which runs along the spine and needs to be doing more of the stabilizing work than it is right now. Yes, yet another back muscle I'd never heard of before and apparently haven't used in years!

It's actually on both sides of the spine, but this gives you the idea.

The best news was that I can now throw in some consecutive days on the recumbent bike....and it's time to start walking, walking fast....AND (drumroll) if all goes well this week, next week could bring walking with running intervals.

I almost couldn't breathe when she suggested that.

I realize it may not happen. You never know when a bad week will hit. Also, Cathy, my original therapist, will be back then, and her recommended course of action may be different from Sue's.

Still, this has given me a new fervor for my PT exercises. After the kids go to bed tonight, I plan to spend some quality time curled up with my stability ball, my foam roller, and my Theraband.