Physical Therapy

Hello!  The last few weeks have been super busy!  School ended for the kids and summer camp chaos has begun.  I started physical therapy and after two sessions have learned much more about my injury and what things I can do to help my body heal.

Basically, in a bad accident the body is violently thrown/jerked/etc.  The muscles clench in an effort to stabilize the body and protect it.  When clenched muscles are still violently jerked around, it causes injury and aggravates the muscles.  Failure to treat these muscles carefully can result in the muscles learning how to incorrectly behave in response to your body's movements.  Thus, causing additional pain and potential complications.

My therapist recommended not lifting more than 5 pounds for a while if possible.  Resting periodically throughout the day (lying down so my muscles don't have to hold up that weight called my head!), and very gently moving my head in ways that don't hurt my muscles to help the muscles learn to appropriately respond to my body movements.  Basically, anything that causes my muscles to increase in pain or tighten needs to be avoided right now.  A very light massage helps to increase blood flow to the muscles and reduces the pain.  The "tens" instrument (pads that emit electric pulse through the muscle) feels really good when it is on the right setting. 

I am doing a little better.  The hardest part is making time in my busy day to just rest and lay down.  The second hardest is making sure I sleep in a good position.  The other night my little one had a bad cold and couldn't sleep in her bed and after a bad dream didn't want to sleep by herself, so we snuggled on the couch...that hurt, but she needed me most.  :)  We're looking at purchasing a special roll so I can copy some of the exercises at home that I did in PT.