But I Was Just Fine a Month Ago...

[Guest Prosoft Admin]

THE GREAT DECEPTION

A really friendly, energetic middle aged lady recently was at Peak Performance PT for her Low Back Pain and Radiating Leg Pain.  We'll call her Suzanna for the sake of our story.  This is kind of like the old Mission Impossible where the recording would self destruct seconds after playing. Our HIPAA laws require confidentiality, so rather than inventing a space age Memory Zapper that would pop out of this email to erase her actual name from your memory, it's easier to just go the fictitious route.

I wanted to share Suzanna's story with you because it's a really common mindset out there that I think I can help you better understand.  Suzanna had been going to the Health Club for years, doing classes along with weight machines and cardio machines.  She felt pretty fit and really didn't have any complaints. 

But then her bubble burst and about two months ago she developed not only Low Back Pain but she was also getting radiating symptoms into both hips and thighs.  That really stinks.  The back pain is something many of us are familiar with. In fact, studies suggest that humans are 80% likely to have at least one episode of significant Low Back Pain in their life, to such an extent that it limits function.

Suzanna's pains into the hips and thighs were a different thing, though. That was a bit of a wake up call to know this wasn't just some tiny little back pain episode that could be ignored. It's especially hard for someone like her who enjoyed going to the club and being active so much. It was really cramping her style.

Recently during a treatment when I was sharing with her some of the shortcomings I'd found on testing, she said something to the effect of, "But I was healthy...a month ago.I was fine.I was working out three days a week. How could I have all these issues when I exercised so much?"

BINGO!  That was the Million Dollar Question.

She was flabbergasted. Maybe she was thinking that she put in all that time yet was being told her body wasn't quite the Picture of Health.That it wasn't that idealistic example of what dedication and consistent hard work could result in. Maybe even in the back of her mind imagining her Health Club-grown fitness served as a shining example to her peers of how good middle-aged bodies could look and feel with a little work. Nope! Reality had set in and she was not a happy camper. She was frustrated, disappointed and then throw in a little confusion!

I can shed a little light on this for you and that day I explained the same thing to Suzanna. You see, when you do rhythmic activities like running or the elliptical machine, complex activities such as actual sports that require timing and reaction and especially contain significant components out of your control, or when you're using both limbs (i.e. both hands or both legs) simultaneously your body will do whatever it can to accomplish the end goal. 

Whatever you "bring to the table," you will use. If you've got a little left-sided hamstring tightness, you'll still run on that treadmill.  Your body just adapts and cheats...a nicer word to use is "compensates" around that tight hamstring. It doesn't usually stop you from actually running, but it also isn't the case that the exercise, the running in this case, will actually stretch out that tight left hamstring. 

The same is true for an Aerobics or Boot Camp class, playing soccer or baseball or golf, being active in the yard at home, or having a physically demanding job.  All those things are great activities to challenge your body and contribute to overall fitness.  Your body will do whatever it takes to do what you tell it to do. 

So Suzanna, all the while she was enjoying and relatively succeeding in all of her fitness endeavors, nevertheless, had a number of important limitations that little by little were adding up to eventually overstress her tissues….and, in the end, result in pain and inflammation that led her to seek out help.

I'm glad she came in for Physical Therapy. The Evaluation picked up some areas she needed to work on and she's improving now that she's doing exercises CUSTOMIZED for her own unique needs. I reminded her that it was critical that she specifically addressed the areas I found deficient because the generic exercises she'd been performing at the Health Club, things that were total body in nature and often rhythmic or alternating in nature, were just never going to help undo the asymmetries and imbalances she had. 

Suzanna asked, "Well how is anyone ever supposed to know these things are wrong with them? Who is going to find and fix these issues?" That's where we step in as Physical Therapists. PTs are uniquely trained in musculoskeletal evaluation and the non-operative management of those things that ail you. The Functional Biomechanics training that Mike Golisano, Karen Napierala, and myself have gone through helps us even more to be prepared to evaluate your Function and figure out the best ways to quickly get your body working the way you hope it can. 

So remember, you can't fix asymmetric physical deficiencies with bilateral or generic exercises!