Question about my PT experience.

[GARYS]

This is a question that has been asked before, but with more of you gettint PT I wanted to hear your experiences?
I got in to see one of the best PTs around about 5 months ago, I met with her and another PT trained by her with not a lot of experience (because she lived half the distance away and I was going to be seeing her regularly). Anyway the main PT was there to check me out and kind of tell the other what to do. I got some treatment during this and felt pretty good for the first time in almost ten years. Two weeks later I seen the other PT for a 2 hour treatment and on the way home I was in so much pain I wanted to jump out of the car. I felt horrible after seeing her, but I seen her a couple more times once a month for 2 hour treatments, and really didn't feel any worse or better. I decided to stop seeing her and made an appointment with the other, more experienced PT who had made me feel a lot better. I seen her a couple of days ago for a full two hour treatment. She gave me the treatment and it all went OK but at the end she found some other internal trigger points that she worked on (these felt like someone was sticking a saw up my rectum). MY QUESTION IS, I deffenitly dont feel as bad as I did after seeing the other PT but I do feel a little worse right now. I just do not understand how the first time she made things feel so much better (the first time was probably only hands on for 1 hour and deffinetly less intense of a treatment, and these other TPs werent found, but my biggest fear was that I wouldnt feel good like the first time I seen her. If this makes any sense, has anyone else experienced this?

[alprost]

This is only geusswork based on my own experiences, but.......

It sounds like the 2nd PT has either been missing trigger points or has been pressing on them but not releasing them properly. This could irritate the TP's cause a flare up in symptoms without further improvements as the TP's have not been released. For example, I once had a trigger point released by my partner, who in the process pressed on another very sensitive trigger point which she did not release that session. This caused a big flare up, although she was then able to locate this trigger point easiliy on the next session.

It certainly sounds like the 1st PT has located trigger points on each session, and what you are probably experiencing now is a flare up from PT treatment - these can last for a few days and are usually a good sign. You say you seen her a couple of days ago. I'd give it another few days and then see how you feel. The fact that she found other trigger points and that you had such a good response the first time you seen her is a good sign IMHO.

I'd also strongly recommend that you do some form of relaxation/ meditiation, and that you make sure you 'let go' of your pelvic floor throughout the day - this gives your pelvic floor a chance to heal.

Hope this makes sense!

[rgparrish1]

I absolutely agree with last paragraph...it's very important to relax, especially throughout the day. I constantly catch my self "tightened up" during the day. It's something you need to be aware of and monitor constantly, though, IMO (wear a "timer," or whatever it takes to remind you to take inventory of your muscles throughout the day).

Good luck.

[LightningTree]

I couldn't agree with rgparrish1 more. I have even use the timer 'clock' technique when I am writing on a computer, because that is when I do the most pelvic tensing without thinking about it.

I habitually tense my muscles down there, especially,surprisingly enough, when I am excited about a new idea and am writing about it.

Everyone will develop their own techniques. But for me, I pretend I have a tail, and that when I am tensing my muscles, I have my tail between my legs. Not wanting to be a wimp, I practice letting my tail relax and sway around. Yeah, it gets boring thinking about it, so one gets creative.

Anyway, try to 'get in touch' with your pelvic muscles and pay as close attention as you can to how you are holding them. If you are anything like me, I bet you will be surpsised to find out just how often you are sucking in your perineal and anal regions.

EDIT: Oops, I forgot to answer your question. My experience with PT was that after some PT exercises, I would have a day or two of increased pain. But my PT wanted to know a lot about what that pain was like, and how long it lasted. Is your PT asking you about your post-visit pain?

[GARYS]

Thank you for your responses!!! The PT (good one) seems to be all business, and doesnt say a lot. That was really my first visit now being one of HER patients, so maybe she will ask next time. She said my pelvic floor has almost no movement at all. Like when shes doing the internal work and she tells me to drop my pelvic muscles, push or tighten, they really dont move (having a finger in your rectum doesnt help with the ability to relax). I did have some very intense internal work, and my treatment was a full two hours. She said I really didn't have a lot going on externally. I do hold my pelvic muscles tight which I am trying to keep relaxed now. So it its not a big deal that I didn't feel better after this treatment. I know one treatment doesnt do it, I just really hope I'm on the right track. Thanks again.
Gary

[latte]

I went to Dr. Wise's clinic last fall and have been doing my PT work twice a week and relaxation once a day. My PT has cleared a lot of my trigger points and has given me stretched to do everyday. The PT has helped the sitting pain but I have noticed that if I am lax with the stretches and the relaxation periods I get worse again. I need to do Dr. Wise's relaxation tapes everyday to sustain my improvement. Relaxation is crucial for improvement. PT alone won't do it. This is my experience so far. Taking hot bathes also helps after the PT sessions. Hope this helps.

[CppsDad]

Don't put too much stock in any single PT session. The whole thing about the SP is that it is a two steps forward, one step back recovery. And it's funny how much quicker the two steps forward phase seems before you get back to the one step back. This is the step that stands out the most and is all you can remember when you are in pain. Try to focus on the big picture. Some PT sessions will be great. Others won't. After releasing some trigger points, you will have "uncovered" new muscle tissue that wasn't accessible before beneath the taut bands. This means you may have new trigger points in different areas after each session; hence, different sessions may hit some trigger points, and miss others that weren't there before. So each session will be different. But concentrate on the overall recovery and look down the road a year. And even if your PT session was horrible and caused a flare up, that's STILL a good sign that you have painful muscle tissue that was irritated. Your next job is to just find the spots that were irritated and start working them out.

Mike

[GARYS]

Thanks, the reassurance helps a lot. I guess my mind is so screwed up from dealing with this for so long. I havent been able to get the thought out of my head that seeing her the first time helped so much and being afraid that I wouldnt get the same feeling seeing her again. I was treated on Thursday, so thats five days ago and I am still having this flare up. I dont see her again until 2/23. I hope only getting treated every 3-4 weeks will do the trick. So its fair to say that those of you getting PT feel good after some sessions and have a flare after another?
Thanks again
Gary

[CppsDad]

That's true in my case. Sometimes are good, and sometimes aren't. Sometimes I feel like I've been through a real workout, and other times it doesn't feel like he did anything and I feel cheated. 3-4 weeks between sessions MIGHT help, but it's nice to do it more early on until you reduce the initial state below critical. That's when it's helpful to have a willing partner do it with you; since then it's free.