Originally Posted by catra121

I was always sort of creeped out my the idea of someone watching/filming me. Not because I ever did anything that I said I couldn't do (because I couldn't) but just that ick factor of someone watching you without you knowing. I always kept all the blinds closed in the house just in case because I will admit that I was a bit paranoid about this. But if you asked me whether I thought someone actually was watching I would say that yes...someone did watch and film...they just never got anything on tape worth using because I wasn't lying. But in terms of recovery, I made sure that all the therapy I did was always in line with what the physical therapist was having me do and I kept any activities at home in line with that. This not only took care of any work comp concerns but also my worries about suffering a major setback.

Your lawyer will probably tell you to be very careful and overly cautious about the idea of someone watching you...and my experience with doctors was usually that they usually said that if you CAN do something then do it but if it's too painful then don't...which is frustrating because it's painful all the time. I found that working with my physical therapist (the one who came to the house) was the best because she was monitoring my physical progress and could see how quickly I fatigued, the tremors, monitor my heart rate and BP, etc. I felt very safe that she was making sure I wasn't physically causing myself additional damage by pushing too far too fast while it was on me to monitor the pain levels and know when enough was enough. It's a delicate balance but I really highly recommend at home physical therapy because it didn't require any additional equipment and it was easy for me to do all my therapy on days when the therapist wasn't there (she would always tell me what activities I should only do when someone else was home with me).

WC does enough to hold us back with recovery (at least in my experience with delaying approvals and treatments)...don't let them hold you back with one of the few things that we can control (the using it or losing it). I agree with LitLove in that as long as you are doing activities with the full knowledge of your physicians and they still are providing the same restrictions to work then you will be fine. Don't blame you for being paranoid though...it does happen. Work comp can stop your benefits and even if several months later a judge orders them to pay up...that's still several months without benefits and how are we supposed to survive without them? WC did this to me several times (though each time without ANY reason) and the weeks or months I went without benefits were incredibly stressful and what do you think happened to my RSD during those times? Yeah...not good. So do what you have to to protect yourself from WC but also don't let them hold you back from doing everything you can to regain that function and improve on the medical front.