Return PT appointment today

[Cora]

After the long and thought provoking discussion i was back at PT today for the first time in over a year. My husband joins me and so we get into some good geeky medical discussions with the PT. I brought up concerns about publishing and she has the very same concerns and says that there are no studies out there confirming their techniques. About that one study, it was interesting, they just trained people in a short course to do the massage v. myofascial. She said it was impossible to double blind it. Anyway, we also talked about patient expectations and she personally says that she does not tell people to expect a full cure and she actually views PT as a pain management technique, a tool to improve quality of life and that yes some patients do get better. But she has a much more reasonable and in line with what Charlie and Ezer approach. She said it would upset her to think that PT's are marketing such high success rates. She was very clear from day one with me that she does not promise a cure and that she has to document improvement to continue treatment. Today, we figured my increased pain was due to this little cyst I have ( not bartholin's) and it is sensitizing the rest of my body. When she touches it, pain travels up my back, across the sacrum to the QL muscle and I had burning tingling sensations. I also had burning in the vestibule which i never had before. Likely from the cyst. So, gonna try using a frozen dilator to calm it down but the work she did across my sacrum helped and tonight it still is much better. So, I'll see. I really am glad to have had that discussion yesterday, just in time to develop concrete goals. My husband's point of view is that it is likely that we are dealing with different disease processes that result in overlapping and similar symptoms. Therefore, finding the right approach and treatment can be challenging , and why surgery works for some and not others, same with PT. Even more it compels us to get better diagnostic criteria to help select the best protocol/treatment so we can have the best results possible.
Cora the explorer

[Charlie]

After the long and thought provoking discussion i was back at PT today for the first time in over a year. My husband joins me and so we get into some good geeky medical discussions with the PT. I brought up concerns about publishing and she has the very same concerns and says that there are no studies out there confirming their techniques. About that one study, it was interesting, they just trained people in a short course to do the massage v. myofascial. She said it was impossible to double blind it. Anyway, we also talked about patient expectations and she personally says that she does not tell people to expect a full cure and she actually views PT as a pain management technique, a tool to improve quality of life and that yes some patients do get better. But she has a much more reasonable and in line with what Charlie and Ezer approach. She said it would upset her to think that PT's are marketing such high success rates. She was very clear from day one with me that she does not promise a cure and that she has to document improvement to continue treatment.

Sounds like you have a great PT Cora. I wish more PT's could be that upfront with their patients.

I wish you all the best with it. That new finding sounds promising as well. Good luck.

[Cora]

one day at a time, eh? Thanks for your support and help in focusing my goals

[Karyn]

Hi Cora,
I'm so impressed with your PT's honesty. Thank you for posting about your visit with her. I'm very interested your cyst. Where exactly is it located? Is it a tarlov cyst?
I agree with you about the necessity for better diagnostics. It seems most of us spend too much time chasing our tails, wondering why treatments that are supposed to work, don't.
I sincerely wish you the best in finding the relief you deserve.
Warm regards,
Karyn