Monday, August 27, 2007

I Stand Corrected

I have to sincerely apologize to psoas. It was not psychotic, angry, vengeful or problemsome. It was the actual joint capsule, it tightened up like it hated me. The is why I had stabbing pain in the hip this morning with any type of motion, and awful pain the past few days.

I woke up this morning at 5:00 to excruciating pain, probably worse than surgical pain, it hurt to move, breathe or think. Walking was the best therapy. I somehow made it out the door and to work, where I explained to P the day's situation. "I am super tight anteriorly, it feels like there is a bungee cord inside my hip that pulls me backwards when I take too big a step on the right, I woke up in 10/10 pain...please help. Oh, can you do a grade 5 mob in a FABER position."

So P checked it out and began doing some anterior mobilizations, it really hurt with each thrust forward, but it felt like productive pain, if that makes any sense at all. And slowly, the capsule loosened up. He did one grade 5 mobilization, but not in FABER, in prone (on my stomach), it was extremely painful, and I tightened up and began guarding, so he had to promise no more grade 5's!

By the time he was done, I felt great. My gait was normal and the stabbing pain was gone. Around 10:30, the tightness came back with a vengeance. But after walking around for a while, it slowly let up. Later on in the day, I felt it tighten up again, but this was so different, it quickly 'grabbed' me and tightened up, but I walked on it and it loosened up again.
When I got home, I went to the pool with L and Jk, and the constant activity was good to keep it loose.

I see a huge problem though for most people and even more so for those in PT. I come in with a different complaint almost every time I have PT, but I can easily pinpoint exactly what is bothering me and we can remedy it. I think this may be a part of why many people are having unsuccessful surgeries, the surgery is successful, but there are so many 'complications' that arise later on, and describing the location and quality of pain is very difficult. I asked P what he thought about that, and he agreed, and said we are 'lucky' bc I am going through it and it will be a huge learning experience for all of us.

1 comment:

Funnelcloud Rachel said...

I'm actually glad to hear you say that it's confusing because of different symptoms everyday - though I'm sorry that wasn't cured with your surgery! I feel the same way - with pain in so many different places (though I'm still pre-op), but you're right, I can't describe the pain with the detail that a PT can.

Good for you guys for pinpointing the causes - you and your PT will be invaluable to patients who come in after a scope! I often feel like the dr's don't ask enough questions to really narrow down the where the pain is coming from -sometimes it just takes a PT to get the job done! :)