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Two physical therapists later…

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I know some people get good results with physical therapy, but I can’t say I’ve ever been one of them.

My first experience with PT was after blowing out my shoulder ten years ago. I could hardly raise my arm and instead of giving me a cortisone shot my doctor sent me to 8 weeks of therapy. When it was finished? I still couldn’t raise my arm and it hurt twice as much. On my next office visit the doctor shot me full of cortisone, which brought instant relief and no issues to this day.

My second experience with physical therapy was three years ago when my knee hurt so badly I could hardly walk. Doctor gave me a cortisone shot, which didn’t help at all, and sent me to therapy for 6 weeks. Lots of pain with no improvement sent me running (okay, hobbling) to the acupuncturist which was the only thing I ever found that helped.

So now I’m almost three weeks post partial knee replacement and have had two out patient physical therapy sessions. The first visit was an assessment where I had to perform tricks like a trained seal. There were no sardine treats at the end, but that’s what it felt like.

At the second visit we did some exercises, mostly the same ones I’ve been doing at home, and though I’ve already been scheduled for two visits a week for the next four weeks she said I was doing so well we could probably drop it to once a week.

Which makes me feel like this…

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If all we’re doing there are the same things I’m doing at home… why am I even going?

Other than to bill insurance for something I don’t seem to need.

🥴

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43 thoughts on “Two physical therapists later…”

  2. I wrote a blog about this yesterday. I believe the PT helped but after the final two sessions I want to take a break. I am hoping that I am not asked to go for longer. If so, I will say I take a break. By the first week of November, I will have gone 13x and I do them at home. I am doing well. None of them really hurt but they do afterwards. I just know she will want me to continue but I need a break!

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    1. I have also been seen more by the PT assistant than the PT. I don’t like the traffic to go, the later timing of my appointments and I don’t really care for either. I think I had a really good PT at the same clinic before but I go. Sometimes I have asked them questions they can’t seem to answer but they are not the surgeon.

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      1. Yes, my husband said, “I have more faith in you than the PT.” Meaning I am an over achiever with reading and doing exercises. I think it comes from over compensating when in the military. I worked very hard to get in shape for boot camp as I am not a natural athlete but I am a very determined person.

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      1. I really hope this works out well for you and that you will be able to walk pain free. That would be so wonderful. I don’t personally know anyone with an artificial joint.

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  4. I totally agree about the physical therapy. After continuing my PT exercises at home, I regressed to the point that I couldn’t lift my arm. The surgeon told me to discontinue those exercises and continue with normal daily activities. Things have improved somewhat. My husband likes to call them Physical Terrorists.

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  5. My first PT place was terrible… always the same exercises, for sciatica, when I was there for my knees. Therapists were untrained. I had one appt where I literally did nothing because the therapist wasn’t paying attention.

    My current place is exactly the opposite – well trained providers, customized exercises – appropriate to whatever issue I’m there for, lots of equipment/options, lots of checking in, attentive, and they actually help me!!!

    If your PT sucks, see if there’s another provider avail or just blow it off and keep doing things yourself.

    I’m glad you appear to be doing really well!!

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  6. When I had a shoulder injury I told the PT that I taught those exercises to my patients so I didn’t need my therapy time to be me doing exercises while she caught up on her notes. I needed manual therapy that I couldn’t do to myself. She agreed, which is one of the reasons I continued seeing her.

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      1. They don’t do manual therapy on me and that is fine. I do see some of the male vets really appreciate the manual therapy. It is interesting to watch. My clinic is very busy and she does take lots of notes but I am most concerned she write down correct measurement of my leg lengths and the details. The surgeon will give more input in December. I do feel I can do most on my own and also am not a slacker with listening to a few videos about PT after hip replacement on YouTube. Very helpful!

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      3. Yeah, they don’t do that for hips and I am really okay with that. I see the PT working on shoulders (manual) and since it is one room, I see some who are in great need and some who look like athletes but you don’t really know always what is going on. I still have a limp, so trying to get stronger with glutes.

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  7. Ugh i felt the same after 6 weeks for my shoulder. On the last day they used a jack hammer massage gun at full blast on me and it made things worse. I recently had a cortisone shot and my arm feels a hell of a lot better than it did during PT.

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  9. I had an injury on my feet while playing cricket and it was so serious that I couldn’t walk for 6 months. There wasn’t a fracture but inflammation persisted for months. My PT worked very hard with me, he was hired by the club and he was a gem. Although I couldn’t pursue the game after that but he made me stand on my feet and few years past, I was able to run like a normal person. Yet that imaginary pain is there, it was horrible back then. Now I resorted to some exercises on daily basis. They are important. Keep moving yourself under expert guidance. Hope your pain ease out. There is one more thing, I also saw a Ayurveda expert who restricted some food (especially pickles) as according to him, those foods restricted my recovery. I still can’t eat too much mango pickle.

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  13. PT has been really hit or miss with me. I’ve been for just about every body part, some twice. Sometimes it has helped, but the majority of the time the gains are marginal. Of course, they all want you to do their exercises daily for the rest of your life. I’ve amassed such a thick pile of papers detailing the exercises for my shoulder, knees, elbow, neck, back, etc., that if I did them all faithfully every day, I couldn’t work a job. The PT would be a fulltime job.

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  15. Hi Rivergirl – I’m hopping around in the blogosphere and I stumbled on your post, (I see you comment over on Suz’ blog all the time) – I think this caught my eye, because I’m married to a physical therapist. A good PT is essential. I’m sorry to hear you’ve not had great experience. My husband (we’re in the suburbs of Chicago) has patients come to see him from miles and miles away. He is very good at what he does, but unfortunately, they aren’t all that great. He is usually opposed to cortizone shots, because they can destory healthy tissue. He always says motion is lotion, in case that advice is applicable.

    Wishing you a speedy recovery with minimal pain. Good luck!

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    1. Hi!
      And thanks for stopping by.
      I realize therapy can be an important part of healing but sadly my two previous experiences were anything but. I’m hoping this new place will bring better results.

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  16. With you on this one, I hate PT, but they need to make sure things are healing and there is not any problems. Ask how far you have to be able to bend it to get out of PT. I did that and went home and bent the heck out of it for about a week and made the bend I needed to get done with PT.

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