Help - new back patient - and lost

[johnb]

I'm a believer in PT. However, it took me awhile to find a good one. Additionally, I think some just have a special talent for it like a certain intuition or something. My PT used a technique called strain counterstrain. He always wanted to view an MRI abstract if available. PT's cannot diagnose but he knew more about what was cuasing my pain than any MD I saw at that time. I was 24, diagnosed with disc disease at L4 to S1 with some bulging, some annular tears but still with good disc height at both levels. I had no nerve related symtoms at the time. My pelvis would get out of alignment which caused pain. He'd press on different muscles and I'd give feedback on which ones were painful when palpitated. Then he'd put my body in a position where there was no tension on that muscle and put pressure on that muscle for 1.5 minutes. This did something to release that muscle that was pulling my pelvis. The muscles that were in this state were described by him to be in a state of dysfuntion and needed to be reset. Once these muscles were reset, he'd instruct me on stabalization exercises that go from level 1, 2, and so on. Before meeting him, I was very scared due to persistant pain at such a young age with surgeons telling me not to have surgery. He helped me out tremendously. Out of the 6 PT's or so that I've worked with, he was the only one that helped me. God bless Tim McMahon.

So it really depends on your particular issues I suppose. It makes sense to have a strong core to support your spine. If your muslces aren't doing their jobs, your spine is going to be under more strain.


John