I’m going to physical therapy today and I have no idea what it’s gonna be like and it’s making me nervous. If anyone knows what it’s like, please do tell. I am anxious af about it.
(If it makes any sense, I’m going there for chronic pain, mainly in my legs, idk if that’s relevant at all)
#what is physical therapy???
normal iron
I am an unusual amount of nervous for this, way too nervous, I have never been more nervous for anything in my entire life
oak stratus
oh youll be okay
normal iron
I know that
normal iron
I think the main thing that’s making me nervous is that I’m doing it in the hospital that I do my psych appointments at and not my usual one which means new humans and I don’t like new humans especially when they’re medical professionals
oak stratus
i hate humans too, not just new ones 😭
normal iron
Humans are a negative encounter
oak stratus
they areee :(
normal iron
I don’t know how humans tolerate humans
oak stratus
same
undone meadow
i do get physical therapy quite often (tho ive stopped for a few months bc of several reasons) but
idk how to answer your question 🧍 its a bit too wide
but uhm
yeah
its ok
🧍
if you could narrow it down to a few more specific questions i could answer /nf @normal iron
normal iron
oh, okay, cool. The question is more 'what does one even do in physical therapy?' than anything else but im kind of unsure what I was even asking at the moment so im gonna attempt to break down that broader Q: how does it typically go? What would it consist of? What should I expect?
To be honest, it's a Q that's a bit too broad for me to even see what past Arson was thinking and I can't quite recall so we're at a rather dead end on that front, my apologies
undone meadow
its ok its ok
so
well the 1st ever appointement, you're probably spend most of it talking with your physical therapist. theyre going to ask questions like "why are u coming here", gonna ask you to describe your pain, probably scale it from 1 to 10 which sucks, take some background info like injuries you got etc.
probably. thats how my 1st appointements have always been, i live in france.
normal iron
what even is a 1 on a scale of 1-10? my baseline amount of pain? no pain at all? and what's a 10? dying of pain? Most human beings walking into a phsyical therapists office wouldn't reach a 1. The 1-10 scale is my least favourite measure in existence. It makes no sense. Also pain is not an uniform measurement. Are we allowed to use decimal points??? I could rant about 1-10 scale for 20 years
anyways, thanks
undone meadow
what even is a 1 on a scale of 1-10? my baseline amount of pain? no pain at all?...
i know, i HATE this question. i always skip it and try my best to describe my behaviour based on pain (like can i walk or do i crawl? can i grab things or do they fall? etc)
normal iron
I describe it as 'can I walk or no?' cause I dont get the inbetween, it's either dull or horrid so I dont see a purpose for inbetween measurements
undone meadow
2 types of physios :
those who work in a separate room ALONE with you :
you have to be comfy on 1-to-1 because you'll be in a small room with them only and theyll be watching you constantly.
most of the time they give you exercises to do.
example of exercises i got : stretching in a particular way, lifting small weights, stuff like that. for me, it was things i could replicate at home. she made me do like 20 reps of each (which is the average amount of reps) and then told me to replicate those exercises at home, and tell her if it helped the next time i saw her.
its basically physical therapy except the professionnal is next to you constantly. which can be stressful, but it can also be helpful because they can correct you on your posture for example or you can ask them question and tell them how you feel directly.
those who work in a big room with several other people and there will also be several other physical therapists :
you have to be comfy with open spaces and with people. there will be people. depending on how big the room is. at my current physio, we are on an average day 5 in the same big room. at my old physio (when i was 8), there were over 10 people all the time and i hated it. these environnements tend to be incredibly stressful and overstimulating for me.
your physical therapist will not be with you and next to you all the time. they will give you an exercise to do (example : tip-toe and then walk on your heels, 20 reps), show you how to do it, watch you do the first few reps to make sure you're doing it correctly, then walk away and go check on another client (in the same room as u). and then they come back and ask u how its been. then give u another exercise, and starting the loop again.
my current physio takes care of 2 people at a time, not more, so she can be quickly available for both of us. however, my old physio (when i was 8), was never available and i ended up having to wait 15 minutes or more in a room filled with adults.
normal iron
that is very thuro (i dont know how to spell it) and you are my savior
undone meadow
yay!
normal iron
It went pretty great surprisingly, I have regular therapy and occupational next week (yes, I go to every therapy /j)
It’s certainly an ordeal to be honest