Skip to main content

Physical therapy

I'll start with a rant, but end with something nice. My health insurance premiums are going up 23% next year. I don't think it's because I'm going to get 23% more value. Just a reminder here to my libertarian friends that the people who reach deepest into our pockets, without our permission, exactly, aren't/isn't always government. Rant over.

That said, after going through the costly and pointless referral process (two doctor visits just to point me to a physical therapist): wow. First visit, Eric (the physical therapist) quickly and thoroughly diagnosed the specific muscle and connective tissues that were causing me so much shoulder pain. Then he explained the problem clearly and succinctly. Then he gave me an excruciating painful and pointed massage, and showed me how to do two exercises that would directly address both pain and my range of motion restrictions. I left, after an hour, with less pain and more motion than I'd had in weeks. I'm doing my exercises, and can feel the improvement.

This is how I think it's supposed to work. Direct examination by a knowledgeable expert, application of that expertise, responsibility on the part of the patient to do what's been advised. And voila - improvement without surgery.

Here's hoping the continued indignities of aging continue to prove tractable.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Good luck with your shoulder. Just went through a couple rounds the last year with my boyfriend - first his knee then his back.
Jamie said…
Thanks, Kat. So far so, good!

Popular posts from this blog

Uncle Bobby's Wedding

Recently, a library patron challenged (urged a reconsideration of the ownership or placement of) a book called "Uncle Bobby's Wedding." Honestly, I hadn't even heard of it until that complaint. But I did read the book, and responded to the patron, who challenged the item through email and requested that I respond online (not via snail-mail) about her concerns. I suspect the book will get a lot of challenges in 2008-2009. So I offer my response, purging the patron's name, for other librarians. Uncle Bobby's wedding June 27, 2008 Dear Ms. Patron: Thank you for working with my assistant to allow me to fit your concerns about “Uncle Bobby's Wedding,” by Sarah S. Brannen, into our “reconsideration” process. I have been assured that you have received and viewed our relevant policies: the Library Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Read, Free Access to Libraries for Minors, the Freedom to View, and our Reconsideration Policy. The intent of providing all tha

Installing Linux on a 2011 Macbook Pro

I had two MacBook Pros, both 13" models from late 2011. One had 4 gigs of RAM, and the other 8. Both of them were intolerably slow. In the first case, I wound up installing CleanMyMac , which did arcane things to various files, and put up alerts to warn me about disappearing memory. But it made the machine useable again, albeit not exactly speedy. I changed some habits: Safari as browser rather than Firefox or Chrome. I tried to keep tabs down to four or five. The second Mac had bigger problems. Its charger was shot, but even with that replaced, the battery tapped out at 75%. More importantly, the whole disk had been wiped, which meant that it wouldn't boot. Recently, I had downloaded a couple of Linux distributions ("distros") on USB drives. Elementary OS 5.1 (Hera) was reputed to be a lightweight, beautiful distro that shared some aesthetics with the Mac OS. So I thought I'd give it a try. Ahead of time, I tried to read up on how difficult it might be to

The First Year: 5 strategies for success

[The First Year: 5 Strategies for Success, 1 of 8] Over the past several years, I've had the pleasure of coaching several new public library directors. For a  variety of reasons, many directors are stepping into the role for the first time. Often, particularly in smaller or more rural libraries, they haven't even had a lot of supervisory experience. I tell new directors that the two big advantages of confidential access to someone who has walked in your shoes is that (a) you can ask the questions you might feel embarrassed to ask your board or staff, and (b) you have the advantage of someone else's mistakes. To be clear, everybody makes mistakes. It may be the most powerful learning tool we have. But I've thought about my mistakes, and I can help you identify the old ones, and with luck, make new ones. There's no good reason to make the same ones! I believe that there are five key constituencies the public library director must satisfy:  your boss  (usual