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Treatment

I went to my second round of physical therapy treatment this afternoon. It’s an interesting experience.

When I first went to the doctor, he said my back and shoulder were spasming a lot. Which makes sense considering an SUV came about 4 inches away from hitting my actual body. He prescribed physical therapy treatments that started that same night.

Now that I’ve gone to two, I’m able to process it a little.

First they start me on this dry hydrobed machine. It’s like a waterbed but applies pressure via jets to help loosen up those tight spots. And it seems it can be focused on different areas, as I felt like it was working more on my lower back this time, but over my entire back the first time. It’s kind of nice, though I definitely feel it when it hits certain areas. I nearly fell asleep on it this afternoon.

Then they put me on a mechanical traction machine. This one rolls up and down my spine, helping to decompress it. There’s definitely some tender areas when this thing is going. I practice breathing and trying to stay relaxed. I can tell the person to turn down the intensity, but I want to make sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to as well. So I have them go to the borderline of where it hurts. Kind of like in yoga. Push your comfort zone, but back off if it hurts.

Next is a combination of electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS; I’m not sure if EMS or TENS. They operate similarly. I’ll have to ask next time.) and ultrasound therapy. Apparently the EMS helps to strengthen the muscles by causing them to contract. In contrast, TENS is used to decrease pain. It’s applied at a frequency that doesn’t result in muscle contraction. Either could make sense with my symptoms… The ultrasound therapy helps increase healing of tissue and with pain. I’m interested in learning more about how both (all three) of these treatments work to do what they do. Maybe I can get one of my students to do a project on it.

After the EMS/ultrasound treatment, I receive a short massage. This feels the most informative, because a person can actually give me feedback about my body. Today, the Technician said that my left hip is higher than my right. That would explain why I’m feeling pain in that hip and down my leg. It’s also the side of impact in the accident… Hopefully I’ll get my back straightened out so that my hip does as well.

I find out about my X-rays next Tuesday, and I continue on with eight more treatments over the next couple of weeks.

Tomorrow will be the second week after the accident. I definitely feel better than I did right after it, both physically and mentally. But I’m not back to normal. On both fronts, though a bit better on the mental side of things. I’m still feeling a decent amount of pain. I can definitely tell when it’s getting close to the end of the 6 hours, when it’s time to take my anti-inflammatory again. And sometimes, even with taking a muscle relaxer and anti-inflammatory before bed and putting a heat pack on the worst of the pain, I wake in the middle of the night to a dull ache and burn in certain areas of my body.

I hope these treatments continue to help. I hope I’m not stuck with this for the next 40-50 years… I guess I’ll deal with it if I am, but fingers crossed for now.