Send me to PT you get another collapsed spinal disc. PT has collapsed 4 so far. All the Neuropathy pain is from those Collapsed disc. PT is not for everyone. Spinal Degeneration is not treatable, surgery will crumble the spine, screws won’t hold. When you add in Fibromyalgia which is a progressive muscle degenerative disease you can’t rehab muscles or even maintain tone. It even effects your eye muscles.
How are you going to send a Veteran who was gut shot to PT?
PT is not a cure all for many of us. Or we’d over load PT clinics. Most don’t even have a clue how to do PT on us we don’t do well with typical PT. My last session they used Dry Cupping, Stretching, heat/cold and Stim more than actual therapy. Still have a hand that has lost 90% fine motor skills. And I’ve worked the PT daily for a yr besides the 13 weeks I was allowed on Medicare.
For those who can do PT, it is critical to find experts.
I was really resistant to doing PT because I went to an HMO for a bad back.
My back was out so bad one time it took me 20 minutes to crawl from my room to the kitchen to get a drink of water and I cried from the pain the whole time.
The HMO people had me doing exercises that made my back worse so I didn’t do them.
No pain pills, not even muscle relaxer.
They put me on PREDNISONE instead which probably contributed to ongoing health issues related to hormone balance.
I’ve spent thousands on chiropractors over the years.
A while back I had a severe hypothyroidism bout where my meds weren’t working. Everything ached. I could barely walk so I wound up sitting in a recliner for a year. I eventually got my thyroid ironed out after I did some research and switched meds to get things back on track.
I decided to try PT again just to document everything and maybe get on disability. I wound up in an excellent facility, got the proper exercises and do them everyday now.
I have very little pain nowadays. If I injure myself, I do half a vike and half a muscle relaxer(was able to get this stuff when I switched medical before the big opiate scare)install the brace and rest a day or two, resume PT and I’m good.
I only have to resort to the evil oipiates once every month or two.
I stockpile my meds. If I have surgery and they give me pain pills, I only take half a dose only if the pain is unbearable and I save the rest for sprains, migraines and extreme back issues.
Last time I had surgery was over a year ago. I still have most of the bottle my doctor prescribed and it was only 30 pills.
The opiod crisis is bullshit and was created and nurtured by our government.
You started PT too late!
The degeneration you mention would be substantially slowed, or even reversed by weight training started as late as 60 years.
Again, multiple studies on this.
There are women in their 80s lifting weights now.
And yes, you’re right, once a certain threshold is crossed, there is no alternative to opioids. But earlier intervention, by initially denying pain meds and insisting on PT is a far better course.
It’s a negligence crime by your doctors over the decades, starting when you were 50 years old.
I have 3 sisters, 63, 60 and 59. They ALL lift weights now. Of course they are not HEAVY weights like what a man would use, but they do it. And do it regularly.
All 3 have bone mass above average, are not as risk of osteoporosis and are without chronic pain.
It’s the sedentary life that is the source of the vast majority of chronic pain.