September 17, 2018
Unfortunately, I was unable to keep up with the momentum I had established after my last physical therapy session, when Francis, at my request, mandated that I walk a minimum of 3 times a week. We had a wonderful time walking at Pacifica Pier on August 11 and my enthusiasm lasted about 10 days then stopped as web client work increased. So I went to today’s physical therapy session feeling somewhat guilty and wondering if it was going to do any good to keep going if I’m not going to put in the effort for walking.
At 3:01 p.m., I even wondered if Francis had “forgotten” about my appointment. And I decided to wait until 10 minutes had passed…but he showed up and escorted me back to his treatment room.
He started by asking me what I wanted to work on today. I told him I would like him to check a couple of the exercises to make sure I’m still doing them right, and to check my range of motion today. I had to confess that I had not walked as much as I intended to. He asked me when the last time was that I walked and I had to admit it had been almost a week (last Tuesday). Amazingly, he did not stay I couldn’t have any more physical therapy because I hadn’t been walking!
I told him I have been on Lyrica for two months and I told him the same thing I told Paul Simon last week: that I do not want to take enough painkillers to totally relieve the pain because I still need to know where my pain threshold is and keep working with acupuncture and physical therapy to heal the nerve pain.
At that point, I assured him that my first consideration of ANY medication is whether it will raise my blood sugar. And I had made sure that none of the four (FOUR–gasp!) pain meds affects by blood sugar. Because, throughout my whole journey of pain management, my priority is my low-carb diet to control my diabetes.
So he checked my exercises, and made the “windmill” exercise harder by bringing my arm back as far as possible. In both directions. When I did my head turning to the right, he told me he thought my range of motion was now about 80%. Quite a bit from my initial range of motion at 5% in my first session! He checked my head turning while back, shoulders, and head are flat against the wall. He added one more exercise to be done while bracing hands against a counter and keeping the back straight, parallel to the floor, and performing a “Chin Tuck” in that position. Last is the head lifting while lying on my back without a pillow. I have never yet been able to do this one more than 3 times in one session. He pointed out that the neck has to lift and hold a 12- to 13-pound weight (the head) and this involves the upper back and core. I could see that I have to work at this one!
So, in spite of my gross negligence in failing to walk enough, Francis scheduled my next appointment for Monday, October 15. Hmm, I mused, my son’s birthday.
Now I need to review my PT exercises, designed specifically to mitigate my chronic neck pain, and assigned to me by Francis at my first individual appointment with him on February 5:
Modification of one of the 7 core exercises: Lie on back, knees up, turn left including core and right arm, while keeping chin tucked. The “Chin Tuck” is instead of turning head to the right since that is painful for me. 10 reps. ADD:
- Lie on left side, circle right arm clockwise (like a windmill), then reverse direction to counterclockwise. 10x each direction. ADD: Stretch right arm as far back as possible in the lower quadrant.
- Lie on back, “Chin Tuck” while turning head to the right (only up to the point of pain, not past.)
- NEW: I created one of my own. Lying on my back, put heels of hands behind head, up against the lower edge of skull and pull upwards, trying to mimic the spinal decompression that Francis did in a treatment session.
- Remove pillow, lie flat on back in bed and lift head without any assistance, hold for 3 seconds, then relax. 10 reps. So far, have not been able to do more than 3 reps at a time. This one is my major challenge.
- Added a variation on head turning, this one standing up against a wall with back and shoulders and back of head against the wall. Turn head to the right and back without letting the back and shoulders move.
- The last one (added today) is to assume the core position of the “L” backside stretch with hands supported by a counter (kitchen or bathroom), do “Chin Tuck” in that position.
And, of course, WALKING. Walking, walking, walking.
