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WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?

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I'm a child of the 80's. Those were my high school and college years. And just like the teens and young adults of today - music was a huge part of those formative days. One big hit from "back in the day" was Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done for Me Lately".

Maybe some of you fellow "old schoolers" can remember back to those days around 1986 when that song hit the airwaves with its catchy title.

 

 

Today I had the pleasure of seeing a patient who'd been away on her own for a few months - let's call her Joan. Janet Jackson's memorable title came up as a sort of mini-revelation during our time together as a great way to help her prevent future pain flare-ups. I'm not sure that her original intention was to be remembered as the inventor of a Self-Assessment quiz for orthopedic patients but Joan found the idea really helpful.

 

Here's a little more background on our talk;

 

 

Joan had a hip replacement over a year ago and had struggled a bit in her recovery. She eventually ended up at Peak Performance and we found some creative ways to stimulate her muscle strengthening and movement quality around that hip, pelvis/trunk and leg. Joan worked really hard and progressed nicely in a fairly short time compared to her disappointing prior months of seemingly snail's pace recovery. Besides the hip itself she also had developed some Sacroiliac pain in her lower back.

 

 

 

 

When she improved enough to finally get through her days with little to no limping, taking stairs as needed without debilitating pain, and even got back to horseback riding she understandably lost a little perspective on where that hip really was in terms of being fully recovered.

 

 

 

 

 

HAVE YOU EVER FELT THAT WAY ABOUT YOUR INJURY?

 

 

 

 

 

Do you ever feel like "Finally....I'm feeling like myself again" or "Holy Cow...I can do ____ now!" Feeling better is such an awesome feeling isn’t it! It's easy to be so happy…to be so impressed by where you've come from that you fall into the trap of forgetting what is still left to achieve.

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s see what happened with Joan…

 

 

 

 

 

She ended up going out and working in her yard trimming tree branches one day. She'd do some cutting and then grab it overhead and yank the branches down to finish the job. She later proceeded to hike through the woods in knee deep brush for 2 hours!

 

 

 

 

 

She'd been doing so well it was easy to forget she still had a hip that wasn't all the way back yet. Her range of motion, strength, endurance and balance were much improved but still deficient enough to matter.

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever fallen into that trap with your injury?

 

 

 

 

 

Do you know any friends or family doing that right now?

 

 

 

 

 

Joan was SO DISAPPOINTED when her Sacroiliac joint smacked her upside the head with a huge flare-up of pain. All of a sudden she'd gone from riding horses and carrying things up and down the stairs to using a cane to walk, limping around, fearful of any little wrong movement lighting up her intense pain as she'd change positions in bed or go from lying to sitting.

 

 

 

 

 

It seemed her world came crashing down around her.

 

 

 

 

 

"How could this happen? I was doing so well!� she pleaded.

 

 

 

 

 

Janet Jackson to the rescue!

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?

 

 

 

 

 

That's the key question I shared with Joan.

 

 

 

 

 

She needed to ask herself "What have you done for me lately?" If you or a loved one is recovering from an injury or surgery, just think of that question right before doing that activity. You're about to go do a new activity. Maybe one of your first warning signs is when you say to yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

"I USED TO BE ABLE TO DO X-Y-Z " for 3 hours, twice a day, every day, barefoot, uphill.....etc

 

 

 

 

 

You know where I'm going don't you!

 

 

 

 

 

HERE'S A FEW QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF;

 

 

"Ok hip (insert the name of your favorite body part injury) WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?"

 

 

"When's the last time you did X-Y-Z?"

 

 

"How long did you do it for?"

 

 

"How frequently did you recently do X-Y-Z for?"

 

 

"When's the last time I did X-Y-Z as hard as I am about to?"

 

 

These questions might have saved Joan the last few days of agony she went through. They could save you too!

 

 

Think about it. You're wondering if you should do X-Y-Z. Your answers to those questions might just produce the answer you're looking for like a neon sign staring you in the face!

 

 

"When's the last time you did X-Y-Z?"

 

 

There's a huge difference in confidence things will go well if Joan's answer were "I just hiked like that last week" versus "I haven't hiked in deep brush for about 10 years"

 

 

"How long did you do it for?"

 

 

"I want to go hike out in the woods for 1 hour. Just last week I did 45 minutes with no problem." is hugely different than "I made it through raking the lawn for 15 minutes last week." or “I haven’t walked longer than 30 minutes in the store yet.�

 

 

"How frequently did you recently do X-Y-Z for?"

 

 

“I'm starting that exercise class 3x/week - what do you think of that? Is it a good idea?"

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?

 

 

 

 

 

"I did that class 2x last month." is a lot less encouraging than "I've been going twice a week without any issues."

 

 

"When's the last time I did X-Y-Z as hard as I am about to?"

 

 

"I'm about to go hike through knee deep brush on an uneven surface for 2 hours. I should be ok right? I used to be out in the woods for hours you know.�

 

 

Yea, I know you USED TO be out in the woods that long…but how long ago? Last week or five years ago?

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?

 

 

 

 

 

Joan can be a whole lot more confident she'll survive if her answer is…………….

 

 

 

 

 

"I was just in knee deep brush last week out in the woods for about 90 minutes and only got tired." versus her answer is something like "I walked through 3 inches of brush in the woods the other day."

 

 

 

 

 

Joan's going to be thinking about Janet Jackson's catchy song title in the future. Pain exacerbations are no fun! A lot of times they're probably preventable with a little careful consideration beforehand.

 

 

 

 

 

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY" might have been a chart topping hit back in the 80's but for you it can become a real lifesaver if you use it as a reality check before jumping into a new activity head first.

 

 

 

 

 

We hope you all have an awesome, healthy, safe summer to come!

 

 

 

 

 

Michael R Napierala, PT, SCS, CSCS, FAFS

 

 

Peak Performance Physical Therapy

 

 

Owner/Physical Therapist

 

 

161 East Commercial St

 

 

East Rochester, NY 14445

 

 

P (585) 218-0240

 

 

F (585) 218-0245

 

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