I'm a big believer in physical therapy but I also am cautious. I've had great PTs and bad ones.
My first PT was really bad! He didn't listen to me at all. He was stretching my neck which most doctors say No NO to. Your neck is trying to fuse. You also know your limits better than they do so they should listen to you!
I asked him not to stretch my neck but he told me I had to. It's a long sad tale but I finally left and filed a complaint with the company he worked for.
I went to my surgeon and told him what the PT did and he ran tests. He did an xray that showed a crocked plate. Thats not unusual but since I was hurting he did a cat scan. It showed that one of the screws was very close to my main artery.
The doctor thought he might need to remove my plate but it turned out that I was fusing well enough to hold the screw away from the artery. It would be more risky to do another surgery than to let my body take care of the screw. I had to take it easy.
My second PT was amazing! She listened to me and we got a lot done. I'm sooo glad that I went to her.
She worked with me for a few months. I then went on to a fantastic massage therapist.
Even though I'm a fitness expert, I don't specialize in spinal issues. I needed to have someone guiding me so I was able to get started in my recovery on the right foot!
Lynn Hahn www.getrealfit.org
Its fascinating to think about the drastic quality of treatment you might receive from therapist to therapist for the same condition. At Mavenlive we are developing a physiotherapy software which offers decision support for therapists. Therapists can use our tool to see what the most effective treatment is for any patient based on their condition. The goal is to raise the standard of care amongst all therapists so that you don't receive such drastic differences in the quality of care delivered from therapist to therapist as you experienced in your case.
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