Enjoying the "Thrill of Victory" and Avoiding the "Agony of Defeat"

[Guest Prosoft Admin]

Just a few days ago I was working with a patient, we'll call her Pam, and spent some time talking about the pain she'd been having in her hip, especially about the flare-up she'd had the prior weekend. 

I asked her lots of probing questions, trying to piece together the details of how she'd gotten herself into trouble. Pam ended up being really insightful as she reflected on her answers. 

I figured Pam's introspective discovery would ring true and be helpful to many of you out there, or to family or friends you pass this on to.

In Physical Therapy we so often have to deal with fluctuating symptoms that a patient offers.  These changes from session to session, from day to day or week to week, can be a real source of confusion and oftentimes can lead you as a patient to poor decision making. 

Pam had been seeing some really encouraging progress since coming to Peak Performance PT for her hip.  It had actually been a problem for years and she'd had PT before but it mostly entailed typical standardized "PT hip exercises" that one might expect. 

Her Physical Therapy Evaluation I performed ended up revealing some important specific issues that I felt would benefit from manual therapy techniques (hands-on methods of promoting motion in the joints and/or connective tissues), along with some customized functional exercises (a weight-bearing joint like the hip really appreciates exercises that look and smell like the "function" they do each and every day - vs. a generic "give the same exercises to everyone" list of lying down or sitting exercises with the foot off the ground).

Pam was feeling so good that one day over this past weekend she decided to spend a few more consecutive hours working than she had the prior weeks/months. It didn't seem to her an impressive amount of work compared to "what she used to do" when she was healthy. 

Pam made a common fatal mistake some of you have done, or maybe even right now are doing the same: a good few hours or days = "I'm better," or the opposite a few bad hours or days = "I'm worse." But are you really sure your actual condition is "better" or "worse," or are you just having a few good or bad hours/days?

 Your answer to that question is critical!

Pam's joy over feeling better lead her to recall years ago when hours of continuous work at her computer was no problem at all, and then  mistakenly think her body was right back there too – in a healthier and prepared state, ready for hours of uninterrupted stresses. 

Well, unfortunately Pam's hip quickly reminded her a few hours later that her leap from the sense of "feeling better a few days" to literally being considerably better was a mistake. She needed more time of extended "better" days to add up to actually being able to increase her work by 200-300%. 

Pam offered a great insight as to how that happened to her.  Think about this a bit – it may resonate with you some.

She shared that, "When you're having bad days you feel like they'll go on forever," and that it causes so much worry and concern and hopelessness. You get tired of always having to modify your activity, your work, your recreation. 

What she said next was really interesting: "I guess I never thought of it this way," she said. "When you have good days you tend to not think they're going to stay for long, and feeling that way makes you want to do what you can while you have the chance."

Are you feeling the hopelessness of pain or limitations that are holding you back from your normal activities? Have you had to cut back on your work activities? On your fitness activities? On your recreation, your fun? 

You can really dig a big hole for yourself when you experience a few good hours or days and make the leap to thinking you're all better and ready to roll. The opposite mistake is thinking that a few bad hours or days mean you've slipped backwards and the injury is literally worse.  Keeping perspective can be really tough can't it?

At Peak Performance PT we are dedicated to providing our patients with a thorough evaluation and designing a custom treatment program to help you get back on track. Every single day I find myself helping to remind patients to keep perspective on the fluctuations they might have in symptoms. You have to balance the attention to detail of those changes with a "big picture" sort of view, so you don't make poor decisions that get you in more trouble down the road. 

Pam hit the nail on the head for many of you: the frustrations and hopelessness over symptoms that are so slow to change can lead to a sort of time-sensitive pressure to "enjoy it while you can," when you do have a lack of pain. 

Give us a call if we can help you or your friends and family with their injury or surgery. 

And thanks, "Pam," for that little bit of wisdom!