Meet Lisa.
After several therapists dismissed her case.
After an incident in which she tripped and fell at work, Lisa had been suffering from hip pain for three years.
She had been to three other physical therapists and felt no relief.
Her first therapist had been provided by workman’s compensation and only saw her six times, giving her a list of exercises to perform. When Lisa reported that she wasn’t seeing any positive changes and had even begun to notice an increase in pain, the therapist only sent her back to the workman’s compensation doctor and discharged her! Her second therapist did a more thorough evaluation and suggested she get MRI imaging for her hip. The MRI came back positive for a labral tear on her hip socket, and the therapist told her that nothing could be done to help her but surgery.
Her workman’s compensation case closed without resolving the issue.
Understandably, she was feeling extremely frustrated and depressed. She wasn’t any better, and she felt like her only choice was surgery.
But she did not give up.
Several months later, she saw an orthopedic specialist who told her she was not actually a good candidate for surgery. He referred her to physical therapy again, where she saw a therapist who, just like her first therapist, saw her only six times and gave her a list of exercises to complete.
She reported, again, that she was actually in more pain than when she first started, but did not receive the support she needed. She chose to stop going to the therapist.
When she came to us at Physical Therapy of Boulder, it was understandably with great trepidation. She had wasted a lot of time and lost a lot of confidence.
What she wanted was to be truly heard so she could begin effective treatment.
We went through her history carefully, asking detailed questions about what her previous sessions had been like with all three therapists. We also established what she actually wanted to gain from therapy, including the activities that she had been unable to enjoy since her fall.
We showed her, using an anatomy application on an iPad, the structures of her hip that had been involved in her injury, and how the surrounding structures had become irritated over time. We also did a manual assessment of the areas that Lisa said were hurting her, putting hands on the area to assess swelling and muscular and skeletal function. The other therapists had tested her strength and range of motion, but had not actually taken a “hands on” approach, which helps our patients relax.
They know that we’re right there with them, every step of the way.