Quote:
Originally Posted by Becca71
The exercises aren't about having you do motions you do in real life, they are about strengthening and stretching muscles and ligaments you haven't been using in years. My hips are a mess from not walking properly from 2.5 years, so I can only imagine what yours are like from a longer time. Hanging your leg off the side of the table is a stretch of the joint. Moving it around is to build strength. A lot of what they have you do feels odd and painful at first. If it causes a flare then you did too much. They should never have you do so much that it flares you. Only up to threshold of a flare, not past. You know that edge when you feel "uh oh, better stop or it WILL flare" That's when you stop. And maybe the next time you can do one more rep than you did the day before. That's how CRPS people progress. We can't do up to tolerance (as much pain as we can handle) cause that reinforces the pain pathways. And causes flares which just slows us down. (And I learned all this from the intensive functional rehab with people who specialize in CRPS, who worked at Stanford).
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Oh...I understand all that about physical therapy...I was more talking from the idea that at least it's not something I would do everyday that would regularly cause a flare up or be beyond me...like if it had been step ups or something like that. I know PT is good for me and that it's stretching and conditioning muscles.
I'll also be honest too that when it comes to avoiding flares...I'm not sure how to gauge that right now at PT. Having gone from baseline 8 to baseline 2...I am really struggling to know how far is too far. So it's hard for me to communicate that or even know until after the fact that something was too much. I want to make sure I'm pushing hard enough...but not too hard. I just have to make sure I communicate with my therapist so she knows the next time and maybe we can find a middle ground that still pushes me without flaring.
My pain is still elevated today...at about a 4...so not too bad but this is lasting longer than any other flare since the DRG was put in so I want to proceed with caution. Wearing my lidoderm patches today and will do some heat after PT and hopefully that will help me get through it today without making it worse.