FRIDAY the 13th, and REHAB

Rehabilitation!

This week I became a patient at a local Spine & Rehab facility for my lower back pain.  As some of you might know, I injured my lower playing soccer in high school. I did not see a specialist or really get it treated, but the pain was really intense for a couple months. It would even keep me up at night sometimes because it was so intense. It felt like my leg and right hip flexor were on fire basically. Finally, nerves started dying off from the injury, and I have not had feeling in my right outer quadricep since I was 17. My leg doesn't bother me, but the sacrum and lower vertebrae have been painful ever since. It has never been debilitating, but the pain is 24 hrs a day and gets worse with backbends, running, carrying heavy weight, sitting in one position for more than an hour, and after drinking alcohol it hurts more.  For the past 10 years, I have learned what helps it and what makes it worse. YOGA has helped with my flexibility and some strength in my hips and low back, but has not helped decrease the pain. And if I'm not careful, sometimes too much yoga can even aggravate it.  

When I stumbled upon a flyer for this rehabilitation place I had to give it a shot. So far, I have been there 2 times for rehabilitation and I am already noticing slight differences. At that facility they have a physician, chiropractor, massage therapists, and physical therapists all under the same roof. It's really wonderful! They decided to start me off with a physical therapy regiment 4 times a week for 4 weeks. Then I will be re-evaluated and have xray results and all that good stuff to further assess my treatment plan. My visits consist of electric muscle stimulation, trigger point muscle release therapy, heat treatment, cardio, and 30 mins of low-back specific exercises, and today they even applied Kinesio Tape. 

I will report back in a couple weeks and let you know how my progress and treatment are going. My only goal for this experience is to feel less pain, so I hope that it works. Please cross your fingers for me! I am excited and hopeful that it works out ok! 
Much love. Namaste. -Lorel