Physical Therapy

I've been attending physical therapy for about three weeks now. I've had an ongoing hip injury since, oh, around Christmas, and I finally decided it was time to deal with it rather than ignore and hope it would go away. The funny thing is, I ran the Rock and Roll Marathon last June without a single problem in training or on race day. It's curious that this problem popped up when I was just running recreationally. My doctor thinks maybe there is something wrong with my posture/running form that is exacerbated when I'm fatigued. So he sent me to the PT to get my gait adjusted while also working out the knot in my hip. Luckily, it turns out the joint itself is perfectly healthy - it's tightness in the surrounding muscle tissue and ligament that seems to be causing the pain.

Physical therapy is pretty interesting. I work with Kathleen, who is about 5'7", probably 110 pounds soaking wet, and is about as strong as the Incredible Hulk. She climbs up on the table and digs her thumbs into my hip until I want to cry. What's cool is that Kathleen has a student PT working with her, and as they go through my therapy, they talk a lot about what they are doing. I feel like I'm learning a little bit about my body, and it's nice to hear all of the different justifications for the assessments, stretches, and exercises they put me through.

So far, the sessions have each started with some kind of assessment of my range of motion. Next, comes an ultrasound on my hip. The heat and vibrations are supposed to loosen things up in there. Then, it's on to the "massage," which I put in quotation marks because to me, massage has a whole different meaning than the torture Kathleen inflicts on me. Finally, it's on to stretching and strengthening exercises. I've even gotten to use a pilates reformer table a couple of times (it's this crazy-looking piece of exercise equipment with lots of springs and sliding parts). Kathleen sends me packing after an hour with homework exercises I'm supposed to do twice a day.

The PT is not bad, really (except for the massage), but it is kind of tiring and I've been pretty sore on the following day. But it's all worthwhile if this will get me back to running on the beach trails soon - I miss it!