Model Physio Patient :)

I had my follow up physio appointment on Friday.  I’m progressing well and having consecutive days without pain, which is awesome.  I’ve been prescribed more exercises and even some “advanced” exercises, which is awesome.  My physiotherapist was amazed at how far along I’ve come in just a few weeks.  By far, the biggest improvement is in my biomechanics.  On my initial assessment two weeks ago, he noted that I turn my right foot out when walking and that my hips are not straight, so this has been a big part of my work for the past two weeks. Hand in hand with this was practicing good posture with shoulders, hips and knees in alignment and engaging the core and glutes.  It’s sounds easier than it actually is!  The mental work is difficult to constantly think about how you are carrying yourself when walking.  Luckily, after a few days, it becomes easier and you find that you don’t have to constantly think about it, but rather do periodic checks to ensure you are not being lazy.

I am discovering more and more that our society, in general, is lazy.  I am not one bit surprised by this, but maybe a little surprised as to how lazy we actually are.  A few weeks ago I went to a yoga class where we sat cross legged and did some deep breathing and meditation at the beginning of the class.  I could not believe how quickly my back was fatiguing just from sitting up straight….  I’m so used to sitting in a chair at work and at home and often… slouching badly.  No wonder my core and back are so weak.  Yoga is definitely helping with this and I am going to try hard to continue going 1-2 times a week.  This week at yoga, I really started to notice drastic improvements without any extra effort…. I can reach a little further, hold poses a little longer and for the first time ever, I could touch the floor in triangle pose!  It feels good to notice these improvements.

The other thing that has highlighted the laziness part of our society…. the walking challenge at work.  I thought it would be a breeze, but I am struggling with it!  By the end of my work day, I am generally at 4500-6000 steps, depending on the day.  I try and do a morning 15 min walk at coffee break (before I was never taking the break and working straight through, but it is a good break for mind and body to get some fresh air and exercise instead!), but otherwise, I don’t do much walking at work.  There’s also a bit of a walk to/from my parking spot and I’ve started parking at the far end of the lot so that I can get in some extra steps.  Luckily we have bonus steps for other activites or I would be screwed.  I didn’t realize my work is now so sedentary.  I guarantee that at my old job, I would have no trouble walking 12,000 steps by the end of a busy 12-hour shift!  Today I am hungover so I will have to make up for it double time tomorrow…..

Back to physio.  I am so happy that I decided to go to a different person than I was seeing this summer (following my hip/leg/knee pain in May).  The physiotherapist I saw this summer was great and fixed with the intramuscular stimulation (needles into the muscle… hurts but it works!) but he never did look at the underlying reason why it happened in the first place and he never prescribed a rehab program.  I was going to go back to him for this injury, but he was always running late with appointments, and it takes forever to get an appointment.  I think it is so important that your physiotherapist prescribes a rehab program and investigates the underlying cause.  Right now, it’s unclear whether my poor biomechanics caused the injury, or if it followed the injury.  Most likely it’s all resulting from a tight quad/IT band and weak hip/glute muscles.  A part of me does wonder if I was prescribed a rehab program back in May/June, could I have totally avoided this from happening to me?  I will never know.  I do know that Rob (physiotherapist extraordinaire) told me after my initial assessment that if I do my exercises, rehab properly from this injury and then do preventative exercises and proper biomechanics, then it is likely this will never happen again, which is part of the goal.  Another thing I like about Rob is that he doesn’t want to see you twice a week or even weekly.  Most of the work, I am doing on my own, he is more like a coach in a sense…. giving me the tools I need to do the work I need to do to get myself back to normal.

At my appointment on Friday, I asked about running.  He said I will be running very soon!  Maybe at our next appointment, which is on the 24th.  He said to bring running shoes and we can work on running biomechanics.  Meanwhile, if I am feeling no pain for the next week, I can try a short workout with run/walk intervals, but running no more than 5 minutes the first time.  I am ok with that.  I am up for anything.  Also, I can set my bike up on the trainer and do some easy spinning.  He said every second day right now, starting at 10 mins and using it as a warmup for my physio exercises and increasing by 5 mins up to 30 mins and focusing on ensuring my knee and hip are in alignment.  I can handle that.  Of course, that means I need to put on the damn trainer tire.  Prepare for yelling obscenities from the basement and hopefully I don’t punch myself in the face this time….