A disappointing physical therapy session

You know physical therapy isn’t going well when, at your first session, your therapist says: “Humans aren’t built to run, you know.”

I bit my tongue and refrained from spitting out a sentence that started with, “So there’s this book, Born to Run … ” I also refrained from asking whether this meant I should stop all physical activity, or whether there’s some activity humans were, in fact, made to do: step aerobics? Zumba? This woman was going to be playing with my joints, and I didn’t want to anger her.

It was the start of a frustrating and strange physical therapy session that made me appreciate just how good I had it when I stumbled upon the Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Institute at the University of Florida when I first hurt my hip in 2007. During four months of tri-weekly visits, I developed a pretty incredible patient-therapist relationship with the physical therapist I worked with. He understood my desire to run again, my tendency to overdo things, my need to do tough workouts, and considered all those things when developing strengthening routines for my hip. He truly wanted to figure out the puzzle that was my hip. In turn, I trusted him expressly, once telling him that, if he told me to stand on one leg on the corner of University and Main, downtown Gainesville’s major intersection, I’d do it.

Most of all, my therapist there was the first person to suggest that my hip problems and ankle problems were one and the same, and to make me see that I’m more than a big, walking IT band or hip joint.

Fast-forward to yesterday. I’ll spare all the details, but just say that I left with a single exercise and a single stretch for my posterior tibialis, a tendon that can cause pain and tenderness in the Achille’s tendon region. And no need to come back for three weeks! So much for my daydream of a therapist who would coax my feet and ankles into a bullet-proof state that would end both my ankle problems and hip problems.

To be fair, this was not a specialized sports-medicine place like I had in Gainesville. Those guys literally went from working with me to working with members of the National Championship-winning football players. Still, it’s disappointing, and with insurance constraints, I don’t have much of a choice in the matter.

The good news: My doctor prescribed iontophoresis (more about this nifty, non-invasive treatment when I start treatments next week), so I will be back for a few more visits. This will give me a chance to express my interest in strengthening my whole foot, and asking what exercises I can safely do without adult supervision.

The session wasn’t all grim. The paperwork I filled out before the session included all the typical questions: Your history of headaches, heart disease, cancer; your tobacco and alcohol use. At the end of the questionnaire came this amazing question: “How do you sleep at night?” It was multiple-choice, and included answers like “I fall asleep immediately,” or “I sleep through the night without interruptions.” Still, it made me laugh out loud in the waiting room.

Have you been to physical therapy? Was your experience good, bad or ugly?