could this be it?

or

status update



i must admit, physical therapy is some amazing stuff. i had downloaded exercises on the web for herniated discs. i have been doing them with minimal effect to my injury. i basically thought they were just going to make me do the same stuff (which wasn't helping) at Physical Therapy. Boy I was wrong. the stretches that I do at PT are much simpler. It's more like....get in this position and rest 5 minutes. Or shift your body this way, and stretch. And just 3 sessions of PT, I think I have made more progress in the last week than I have with just about everything I've tried so far. That includes adjustments at the chiropractor, acupuncture, prescription meds, and steroid injections. Anyway, each visit to PT so far has been great. We make big breakthroughs and find out a lot about what is exactly wrong every time I go. The physical therapists have been awesome. When I went there, about 4 therapists flocked to me and all scratched their heads. So they called "the guru", Yvonne. And wow, she they weren't kidding. You just get the feeling that PT is something she just knows how to do, not something she just learned out of the book. She looks at me and see's a puzzle, not a subject random of trial and error. The way she speaks of my problem is something she can fix with no doubt, in a short amount of time. I thought she just didn't know how bad my case was, but now I'm starting to believe why she's so sure of what she can do. I'm still not convinced myself, since I've been injured for what seems like eternity, but I think with her, I'm starting to see a clear path to recovery without surgery.



As for my BackPro CPM machine, it was amazing the first time I used it. But now that I don't really have inflammation to deal with, I don't think its helping at all. not at my current state. I'm sure if the inflammation is ever flared up again, it would be a 15 minute fix for that. And I'm sure that not dealing with the inflammation is helping me progress at PT at a much accelerated rate. So I gotta give the machine a lot of credit. I'll keep it around for now since it's only costing me $50 a month.



So here is my progress. i'll add one more thing. The lateral leg raise. The lateral leg raise is the standard test to measure how bad the herniation is and and it also indicates the improments you make as you're able to raise your leg higher. About last week, I could only raise my leg lying down about 20 degrees with my left leg, and 15% of the right leg. basically almost no movement. and it had been this way for the last 3 months. no improvments at all.

today, no obstruction of my left leg raising, and my right leg can go 30-35 degrees. a significant improment if I must say so. I can almost stand straight now, and just walking around the apartment and standing up for a few minutes is significantly less painful.



2 weeks ago:

was able to put some weight on my back, even though really painful.

now:

i can almost sit normally if i position myself. gotta slouch slightly to relieve some pain, but sitting pain even goes down to 0 sometimes. this is an amazing improvement.



2 weeks ago:

discomfort on the right hip. but more localized pain. it usually always hurts, so i gotta say 1 to 4. hurts more than 0, but not as bad as 5.

now:

pain is at about 1 to 3. small improvement. but increasing hip pain is generally a good sign. it means that the nerves are not being pushed in as much.



2 weeks ago:

right leg pain1 to 3.

now:

1 to 2



2 weeks ago:

inability to completely stand up straight. leaning less than before.

now:

i can almost stand up straight. Laterally, I can adjust so I'm not leaning but its only temporary. But big improvement here.





2 weeks ago:

all levels of pain raise up 1 to 2 numbers higher when the medication is wearing off (about the 7th hour).

now:

no change



2 weeks ago:

pain while driving is 1 to 3.

now:

I think it's more like pain is 0 to 1. so big improvement here.



So pretty much I've clearly improved. And this time significantly. I'll do another progress update in 2 weeks.