random thoughts – Day 1,225 – (Tuesday) – getting physical

In May, my left leg had hurt long enough that I finally went to see the doctor, mostly because I was worried about doing the TeamWalk for Cancer Care later in the month. I was told to take a bunch of Ibuprofen every eight hours and given a referral for physical therapy, which specified “sciatica.” Around that time, the sciatica seemed to go on hiatus and I hit pause on looking for a PT place. The other pain that ran from knee to ankle didn’t take a break. 

In June, at my regular checkup, I got a very direct “go to physical therapy” from my primary care physician. Ok, cool. Research was done to see which of the many PT providers listed on the back of the order are in my health plan network. Luckily, the office around the corner from home is in the network. When I called, the next appointment for an evaluation was more than three weeks out. Oy.

Because my leg hurt just from walking, physical activity was avoided. One day, I just couldn’t take doing nothing any longer. It was time to get physical and join a gym. The leg felt better almost right away.

So much for the favorite stretch.

Today was finally the day for the PT evaluation. There was conversation and some manipulation and poking and prodding. Notes were taken by the therapist. We talked about the gym and the stretch I do at night when the sciatica kicks in.

It was all very interesting, especially when, after poking around on my lower back, the therapist said she thinks some of the problems with the leg are from there. Riding the recumbent bike is good. The abs crunch machine and the lower back machine are bad for this situation. The favorite stretch I do when I can't sleep and the sciatic nerve is acting up is very bad. Noted. 

The thunder started rumbling in around 5:00 and I considered skipping the gym, but that felt like a real copout. The travel bottle was filled with ice and tap water and I headed out into a gentle rain. Tonight’s gym activity was 30 minutes of “hill” setting on the recumbent bike. It was followed by a lower than usual intensity ride on the massage chair. In the ten days since joining the gym, there have been more massages (six) than in the past six years. Jackpot!

Thursday is when the actual physical therapy work begins. All the notes made today will be transformed into a plan that I imagine will hurt at 7:30 in the morning. That will be an interesting  morning.