Coma's Road to Recovery

[Chicklet]

Wow Coma you set the standard for determination mate. Kudos to you!

Those people who sit on their bottoms and expect the world to revolve around them need to take a leaf out of your book.

It is hard when something beyond your control changes your life completely. I used to be a runner, marathons, x country, fell, allsorts. However a degenerative problem with my knees has stopped me forever. Not as drastic as your tale but I do feel some of your pain. It's hard to keep your spirits up!

Good luck, I hope progress is swift for you. I read with interest.

[paul_gti6]

good luck, and keep your diet perfect. Any lost muscle will be easily gained

[greg]

Good luck with the recovery fella, just read your opening page thank god your alright!

Any news to what treatments can be carried out on your lower back (spine)?

[coma]

The physio session worked out quite well. She asked me a few questions about when I fractured my skull, the current pain, where and when it occurs and a general health checkup. It was nice as always ticking off the non-smoking and very light drinker boxes, as well as outlining what I'm doing with diet etc. The slight enjoyment I got at being asked if I took non-prescription steroids was shortlived due to the follow up questions about bowel and bladder weakness!

Anyway, she ran me through a range of exercises and stretches from calf raises to touching my toes as well as side stretches and other flexibility tests. Having seen that I could bend over backwards well, yet forward mobility was only about 10 degrees she gave me what felt somewhat like a sports massage. It was pretty disconcerting to hear my spine clicking and I kept laughing because of my forced breathing patterns but it felt good overall. After that I could lean forward until my upper body was near parallel with the floor. She said my back was one of the tightest she's seen for years!

She gave me some stretches to do a minimum of twice a day for 20 reps each.

1) Lying on my back, knees bend bringing each knee up to my chest as far as I can.
2) On all fours, keeping hands and knees in the same position sitting back so that my hamstrings touch my calves.
3) Standing upright and stretching towards the floor in a normal 'touch your toes' motion, legs kept straight.

As you've probably guessed, my mobility is shocking at the moment! I was great last night after the session and I've got another one booked in next week. Eventually she's looking to get me taking Pilates which will be a novel experience for me. I'm a little stiff again this morning but nowhere near as much as usual and hopefully with enough stretching I can start to fix it.

The best news is twofold though. Surgery is looking very unlikely, depending of course on how I respond to the exercises. This means I wont need a couple of months of work which is a nasty prospect as a contractor. She also thought that getting back into weight training was very likely which is the news I was really concerned with.

All in all it was a good experience and has certainly given me a lot of hope for the future.

[CosmicFish]

That's promising news. You must be feeling far more optimistic now.













Was she cute?

[coma]

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That's promising news. You must be feeling far more optimistic now.













Was she cute?

Yeah, I am a bit!







Yep

[CosmicFish]

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Yep

Ooh, my back hurts.

[coma]

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Ooh, my back hurts.

Haha! I actually requested a female physio. Not for the reasons you might be thinking but IME I've found that most male doctors tend to have a bit of an attitude that there's nothing really wrong with you. Female doctors generally spend a bit more time listening and explaining which is handy if you've got a little knowledge about whats happening.

[CosmicFish]

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Haha! I actually requested a female physio. Not for the reasons you might be thinking but IME I've found that most male doctors tend to have a bit of an attitude that there's nothing really wrong with you. Female doctors generally spend a bit more time listening and explaining which is handy if you've got a little knowledge about whats happening.

Funny enough, I've found more or less the same thing - with GPs at any rate. A male specialist I saw for excema once was great.

[coma]

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Funny enough, I've found more or less the same thing - with GPs at any rate. A male specialist I saw for excema once was great.

True there's always exceptions, the doctor I used to have in Dorset was great too.