In Harmony PT

Did you know that the right side of your brain is to blame when you avoid doing the hard tasks like your exercises for your vestibular therapist, or writing that letter you need to write, or anything else that you have been putting off?  That is because the right side of your brain is responsible for your “fight-or-flight response”, caused by activiation of your sympathetic nervous system.  It’s the “deer in the headlights reaction”.  You may have felt this before when you first felt positional vertigo.  Well, that same side of the brain is also responsible for the good feeling of reward you feel when you accomplish something, which comes from the release of endorphins into your bloodstream.

Here’s a strategy for you to use next time you want to put off doing your exercises, or anything else you need to do.  Plan to start, and do whatever you can, keeping in mind the reward you have planned for yourself once you finish.  Here’s an example.  I need to go to the store, and I like to do that because I can go by and get a coffee on my way.  I really like coffee.  BUT, I need to do my exercise FIRST, then I will REWARD myself with the coffee treat afterward.  Your reward can be anything; it may be like mine, or it may be a 20 minute nap, or a TV show, or time with a friend. The main thing is to keep yourself motivated by recognizing how clever your brain is…it is so smart it can talk you OUT of doing most anything….it can also be BRIBED.  Try this an let me know how it worked for you!

So, I have to have knee surgery.  Last Thursday I awoke with horrible pain in my knee, could tell it was swelling, and could not walk on it in the morning.  The good news is that I am a physical therapist, the bad news is that I am a physical therapist.  That means that it did not take me very long to diagnose my problem as a likely medial meniscus tear in need of surgery.  I went to my office, found a cane, and tried to get about the business of my day.  When the pain had interfered with my ability to concentrate, sit still, walk, move, or basically do anything, I decided to call the doctor.  The call went like this, I called the office, told them my diagnosis, and asked to see a doctor asap….because I had work to do, patients to see.  Luckily I got into the doctor at noon that day, and miraculously, had an MRI by 2:30pm.  The doctor stayed around to look at my films AS THEY WERE APPEARING ON THE SCREEN! and confirmed our suspicion.  He said, “The GOOD NEWS is that you don’t have arthritis in your knee and your ligaments are good. The BAD NEWS is that your medical meniscus is substantially TORN.”  Then I said, “I’ll have to see the scan and read the report.  He showed me the tear in the medial meniscus as soon as I hobbled off the table.  Then, I asked, “do I HAVE to have it fixed?” He quickly replied, “unless you’re stupid”.  I immediately smiled and said, “The GOOD NEWS is, I’m not stupid, the BAD NEWS is, I want a second opinion”.  Five minutes later I scheduled the surgery for exactly one week later with this surgeon, which is this Friday.

Now a few days later, the GOOD NEWS is, I feel so much better now that the inflammation is gone.  My knee hardly hurts anymore.  It did not even hurt once while I was climbing in and out of the attic today, moving boxes, rearranging my attic space, hauling items up/down the pull-down stairs!  The BAD NEWS is, I should have the surgery nonetheless.  So after lunch today, I went by the doctor’s office and demanded a copy of my MRI and the report so I could SEE FOR MYSELF that there really was a tear in my meniscus. (in case he was lying to me when we were looking at it together!).  I am so crazy.

As many people say, “things happen for a reason”.  Don’t you HATE when they say that?  So, here I am, night after night, pondering the reason why this happened to me……well, the only thing I can tell you so far that I have learned is this…..GOOD NEW AND BAD NEWS.  The GOOD NEWS is that my patients (or, you) would never be this stubborn and hard-headed. The BAD NEWS is, I had to go through this in order to establish empathy towards my patients who are even the slightest bit resistant to accepting their problem.  More good news…I intend to recover completely, under the advisement of my doctor and pledge to myself in front of everyone to do all that is recommended following the procedure.  Will you hold me accountable as I have held you accountable?

Kathleen’s First Blog