Has anyone had negative experience with physical therapy after surgery?
I never had headaches much pre-op- just dizziness, vision probs, and all over weakness.
i had an amazingly easy time post surgery. But I never had a marked "ah-ha" moment of my symptoms disappearing. I've just been slowly gettign my energy back and feeling better.
I went in for PT for the first time yesterday. He just tested my range of motion which is great and showed me some strengthening exercises and did electrical stim with ice on my upper back.
I was told my neck might be stiff today, but instead, my weakness, dizziness and vision probs are back.
could it be the inflammation the PT was talking about caused symptoms again?
You have to be very careful with Physical Therapy. Things that seem benign and easy can make us flair up. I have had so many negative experiences over the years with therapist pushing me and being in increased pain for weeks. The range of motion excersize that they have you do sometimes where you look up, look down then put ear to each shoulder seems easy and harmless but I found that it was not a good thing for me to do. It made me sore twice for over a week at a time.Then I never did it again. I also had a negative experience with the Tens Machine. It also flaired me up. I know it works for some but it was awful for me. Each of us need to figure out what works for us but I would be very careful and not let a therapist do something that didn't feel right. It's hard in the moment to say no but if your going to suffer later it's not worth it. There is no reason when you have Chiari to follow that "No pain No gain" adage. More like No pain No pain....There is a great book that has alot of tips for people with Chiari and it talks about excersize and therapy it's called Conquer Chiari by Rick Labuda they have it on Amazon. I would pick it up. I know that alot of people find aqua therapy helpful because it's gentler on the body and the warm water helps with loosening up muscles.
I agree with Wendy. After my first surgery 10yrs ago I had physical therapy that worsened postop symptoms. They kept wanting me to walk and turn my head etc. Be careful as PTs are not trained for our condition.
Thanks guys for the advice. Here's a funny rerouting of the question.....I just got my period early. I have been watching monthly and realizing that my dizziness, weakness and tinnitus gets worse around my period. anyone else have this phenomenon? This makes me think that the PT didn't in fact make my chiari symptoms return. They always return around my period. what's up with that? I haven't found any info on it at all in all my internet searches, but i KNOW hormones control everything. Just wondering if any of you ladies found the same thing.