The Importance of Education

When on a family vacation, my sacroiliac joint (near the tailbone) went out of place causing extreme pain down my right leg every time I stepped on my right foot. Which is a challenge when you are spending your days and nights walking around theme parks! During a meal break in the middle of our day, I spent several hours stretching and performing joint mobilization to alleviate the symptoms. That night, I carefully positioned myself while sleeping to ensure that the joint had a chance to relax and “get back into position”. And it worked! The next morning I woke up with minor soreness that wore off while we were walking around the amusement park. Score one for self-care techniques!

You may be thinking, “Well, that’s great, Amy, but I don’t have your knowledge to take care of myself when I am traveling!” So let me tell you about a patient who was traveling overseas on a 3 week tour of Europe. This patient had been pain free for over a year but had all of her symptoms come back one morning while traveling. She had to miss the scheduled tours that day and was concerned about her ability to even complete the trip! While she was in her hotel room, she remembered all the exercises and self-care techniques we had worked on during her treatment time. She started at the beginning and worked her way to the end of her exercise progression all in one day! The next day she woke up, felt fine, and had no further problems for the rest of her trip! This is the long term success that I strive for with each of my patients.

Physical Therapy is intended to facilitate healing through the use of hands on techniques, a personalized home exercise program, and large amounts of education specific to each patient’s needs. At least, this is the definition we use here at Physical Therapy for everyBODY. We believe that each body is unique and each person can be helped through a process of learning how to restore optimal health to return them to their optimal lifestyle. That may be walking, yoga, marathons, being a super parent, or finally getting your splits! Each body is unique, each person has a distinct learning pattern, and everybody has their own goals. Call us and learn more about how we can help your body to reach the goals your mind sets! www.physicaltherapyforeverybody.com or E-mail at amykonvalinpt@gmail.com or feel free to call us at (425)658-4944.