Well...for me personally I push through a lot of the pain and it is not unusual for me to push myself up to a 9-10 throughout the day. BUT...you have to balance it and know your own limits.

Everyone is different so what has worked for me doesn't work for everyoen...but I think of it this way. There is nothing physically wrong with my ankle (and other RSD areas). So walking on it will not make it worse. I am not "reinjuring" the ankle by walking on it even though there is pain. It is my nervous system that is damaged, not my ankle. The one limit I impose on myself with regards to pushing through the pain is to not push so hard that I can't function the next day, the next hour, etc. and this is because you need to KEEP moving (not move for an hour and rest for a day or two). Instead of starting with more advanced stuff just because you can push up to it for short periods, I started with very small things like heel/toe raises, leg lifts, drawing the alphabet with my foot, etc. I made a checklist of all those exercises and then made myself do them twice a day each. This was easier than trying to do them all together like you do in therapy. By spreading them out I could rest in between and balance the resting with the therapy. We gradually increased the difficulty (my therapist was wonderful and she pushed me but just enough that we kept moving forward at a steady pace). After several weeks of seeing her twice a week we switched my schedule to once every two weeks and at those sessions we would go through the progress I had made, add some new stuff, and then at the end she would show me the progression of the exercises so if I felt up to it I could go to the next step on my own. This only worked because I faithfully did ALL the exercises every day. We all have bad days but when I was in a bad flare I would revert back to the beginning exercises until the flare passed and then go back to where I was at before. I never took a day off but I made sure that I never pushed myself so hard that I couldn't function the next day. It took months and months but when I started I was stuck in a wheel chair and couldn't stand or walk at all and now I can be on my feet for hours at a time. I do need to use a walker but that's SO much better than where I was before.

So physical therapy isn't a quick fix by any stretch...but if you approach it methodically and with a plan you can see great results. Unlike physical therapy that I have been through for other types of "injuries" I think progress shouldn't be measured by how fast you advance to the more advanced exercises but rather your steady progress to being able to do the exercises all day and getting the fucntion back. Does that make sense? I know sometimes I talk myself in circles and it can be hard to understand.

Desensitization was difficult but for me was very worth it. Again...high pain levels in the beginning but gradually you do begin to normalize the sensations and reduce the pain enough to function more normally (in my case I was thrilled to be able to wear "normal" clothes again).

Take care and good luck. If you have any questions, let us know.