The 'gift' of a GOOD physiotherapist

Some of us are fated to have need of a GOOD physiotherapist.

Riddled with osteoarthritis and contorted by Dystonia (a neurological disease causing muscle spasm with twisting of limbs and lower back) my need is ultra-great. Pain is a constant companion. With arthritic crumbling neck, lower spine, hips and knees I know my need for physiotherapy.

The body is a wonderful thing ... for example, if in pain, muscles try to protect and they do so by going into spasm (this is not the spasm of Dystonia, which is quite different, though similar) and if muscles could speak they would say; " I'll go into spasm here and hold this joint tight so Margaret won't feel the pain of bone grinding on bone (arthritis)" . So my lovely muscles trying to prevent more joint damage of 'bone on bone' creates MORE pain by going into spasm. if I were to chat to my muscles I'd say "hey mate , you are NOT helping me here".

So it was I crawled to my GP in the most dire, excruciating RED hip pain ever.

x-rays ordered and a week later results. "Yep, your hip is now 'bone on bone, with bony spurs'. Jeeze, I thought, hip replacement, that's gonna take months if not years to get done. How can I endure this pain much longer? The GP up's my morphine dose and refers me to Orthopaedic Consultant.

Yesterday I went to the physiotherapist. Not the HSE ones that give you a sheet of paper with diagrams of how to do exercises on it. But a HSE physiotherapy manager who actually DOES physio. I mean he knows spasm. He knows muscles. he knows hands on.

To advise you all....very rarely these days do HSE physiotherapists do hands on, manipulative physiotherapy. Why? because it takes a good half hour to hour of intense physical work they have either no time for, don't want to do or cannot do because they are allocating only 10 minutes per patient to save money.  There are not enough physiotherapists. Personally I sometimes think it sheer laziness.

The HSE explanation for pictures versus 'hands on' is a nice exercise in preventing cognitive dissonance. That feeling that you are a complete fraud. So to prevent your guilt you accept as truth... "There is no evidence that hands on physiotherapy is any more effective than exercise".

Bullshit.

The 'hands on' is absolutely mandatory if you have dystonic spasm or muscle spasm from skeletal 'safeguarding'. Spasm hurts. Spasms are knots of knotty, hard, scrunched up muscles. No amount of 'exercise' gets scrunched up spasm-ed muscles 'un-scrunched'. In fact all that happens is the spasms become fixed and even more scrunched up muscles results.

How do I know? because I friggin KNOW!

I had marched into my physiotherapist and announced; "you are NOT touching my hip" in bolshie 64 year old figgin agony mode. But this gentle Muslim man, married with two children and a goatee beard, living in Ireland, has golden hands. "lie down on your tummy". He smiled benignly.

Ah Achmed, you put me through your 'hands on' wringer last night. I screamed at you; "too hard", I then tried a different tack and plaintively squeaked "I don't think I like this very much",
to which he laughed and....continued....and continued.

Arriving home I realised...no pain. No pain at all.  I mean ...NO FRIGGIN PAIN....nada, nothing, nothing. (well I tell a lie, a little bit but not the searing, burning, stabbing, awful pain I had for the last three weeks).

you know what. I think it was not my hip, but a slipped disc in lower spine. I know I have several bulging discs there. I think...he must have realigned my lower spine a bit.

whatever he did...I love him.