Physio, Deep Tissue Massage & Needles!

Today (Tuesday)I had my second visit with my new physio & it was my first appointment where she actually got into the physio side of things!

She started off with me lying on my good side (which isn't as good as I would like it to be, but that's another post!) and started deep tissue massage on my glutes, thigh, hamstring & calf. She found my knee joint to be very stiff and painfull (side effect from the dislocation process during the operation) and spent a lot of time working on the joint and loosening it up as well as my calf muscle which was incredibly tight and painfull.

After around 30mins on those areas she then got me to lie on my stomach and worked on my lower back & sacrum area.



My Sacroiliac Joint was very tender & easily irritated since my injury and after what goes on with the pelvis during the surgical dislocation it was not surprising I nearly jumped off the table when she only lightly touched the area to see how painfull it was.....

This area is extremely painfull and she did some light massage over the area but not too much as it is not nice when that flares up, makes sitting/lying very uncomfortable. She then moved onto my lower spine and worked on loosening up the very stiff Lumbar Veretbra.

Next came the needles, now I am not a fan & never will be of needles but as long as I am laying down & have sugar afterwards I am able to handle it ok. I had had Chinese Accupuncture before and the needles were left in for over 30mins and were followed by a very vigourous massage. It was very different to the physio style accupuncture!

Needles were placed round my knee joint, lumbar spine & sacroiliac joint and left for around 10mins with heat pads placed over the needles (had to ring the bell as lying on my stomach was beginning to irriate the front of my hip as it was stretching a little too much!)

When I stood up at the end of the session my calf felt better though my lower spine was quite stiff. Went home and snuggled up in my lazy boy with my kitten and blankets and had a snooze, needles always make me sleepy!

(Written Wednesday 13th) - Last night I was a little stiff and had some muscle soreness but was not too bad, I did have a little trouble trying to get comfy in bed and sleeping. Today I am quite stiff so trying to move round lots to keep muscles moving. My groin is a little more twingy today but will see how that goes!

My next appt is Thursday 2pm and I have two booked for next week as well. Though it is painfull it feels sooo good to finally get some deep tissue work done! I am now nearly 100% walking with just the one crutch and only on bad bad days do I use both.