I have never participated in physical therapy. That is until a few weeks ago. At 48, I was referred by my primary care physician after I told her about a nagging pain in my butt, literally! Last July, I hurt my back. I have no idea how it happened. One morning, I woke up, and I could barely stand up. I felt like an elderly person who couldn’t stand up straight! Sitting was awful. Driving was even worse. For nearly a week, I suffered through low back pain that wrapped around my waist to the front of my right hip. After it went away, I was left with glute pain deep inside that was hard to foam roll away. Stretching helped, but it was just kind of there all the time.
In October, I finally decided to try a chiropractor to see if it would help. It did, a little. But, after a while, it would flare up after a chiropractor appointment, so I stopped after about four visits. Come December, I was getting sick of feeling that pain all the time. What’s more, it was affecting my workouts. My doctor suggested physical therapy.
I was skeptical at first. As a personal trainer, I knew what exercises and stretches would help my situation. As it turned out, I was right- mostly.
My first appointment with the physical therapist was an overall assessment. I answered questions, and she moved things around to diagnose what was causing the pain. She prescribed three main mobility movements and told me to do them three times daily. They were a bit different than I had been doing. Two were focused on building the muscles in my mid-back. Not to oversimplify, but she told me my lower back was doing too much work, and I needed to strengthen the muscles around it throughout my core. Due to my lower back impingement (the chiropractor and the physical therapist agreed on that point of origin), I had nerve pain extending through my glute. She showed me an exercise to calm that sensation.
At first, the exercises didn’t do much, but after a few more appointments and many more movements, I am starting to feel a bit of relief. And you know what? Seventy-five percent of what she’s shown me are exercises I was already doing! I do know a thing or two (that imposter syndrome is real, by the way). The main difference is the frequency and the focus on form. I am now concentrating on loosening my glute and hip muscles and stretching and strengthening them. I’m also working on my core and stretching to help my lower back.
I look forward to my sessions because she helps stretch my lower back and sometimes massages the sore areas, which is hard for me to do alone. We’ve discussed the similarities between physical therapy and personal training, specifically corrective exercise. She told me that one of the significant differences between the two is that physical therapists don’t learn exercise programming. Even though they don’t create workouts, their skill is unbelievable. I am glad I followed through on my doctor’s referral.
If you have pain, consider physical therapy. You need a physician referral in New York state, but in other states and countries, you may not. Check the regulations where you live. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to do my exercises!