| Exercise is a four letter word, isn't it? I know some | | | | now mainstream thinking, but at that time they were |
| forms of exercise are. Let's see, there's leap, jump, | | | | not. He even had his own physical therapist in the |
| lift, flex, hike and the most friendly of all, walk. Okay, | | | | office. After my second or third trip down to see |
| so it isn't my favorite thing to do. I'm not nor have I | | | | him, he called her in to evaluate me. I was totally |
| ever been the athletic type. I'm not lazy. I'm just | | | | discouraged. I hate to admit my ignorance, but I |
| more cerebral. | | | | didn't see what that had to do with me. I was sick. I |
| As a nurse, my experiences with physical therapy | | | | needed more medication. I needed a firm diagnosis. I |
| were with those therapists who came onto the unit | | | | needed someone to relieve me of this burden. I did |
| to walk about with the patients who had a fractured | | | | not need to be told to move. I must confess to you |
| hip, or they applied the motion machines to those | | | | that I can be very stubborn and just didn't get this |
| who had total knee replacements or generally helped | | | | whole PT bit, at all. I couldn't imagine how it pertained |
| those who were recovering get back on their feet. | | | | to me. I thought he was just passing me off to get |
| After struggling with pain in my sitter, my neck | | | | rid of me. I know. How stupid can you get? |
| (accompanied by excruciating headaches) and a few | | | | The first thing the PT did was to explain to me that |
| other places, I still was unable to get an adequate | | | | if I didn't move, my body was going to become |
| diagnosis. I looked for and found one of the best | | | | even more misshapen and useless. I'm sure that |
| rheumatologists in the country, Dr. Rodney Bluestone. | | | | wasn't her word "useless," but that was the general |
| He had treated my oldest sister who had psoriatic | | | | idea. I was having a great deal of neck pain from the |
| arthritis and she got better. So I figured he must | | | | long drive down and felt as if my whole body was |
| know what he was doing. His practice was in Beverly | | | | twisted from my head down to my always painful |
| Hills, which was three hours from where we lived at | | | | behind. She directed me over to a full-length mirror |
| the time. The trip was gruesome, with the sit, the | | | | and had me look at myself. I was wearing a slip, and |
| ride and the damnable L.A. traffic. But he was well | | | | it was all too evident that my shoulders were not |
| worth it. His approach was a practical one of function. | | | | the same height. Funny, I had never noticed that |
| I had to keep moving even if we didn't have a name | | | | before. One shoulder was at least two inches higher |
| for this thing that had come to destroy my life. The | | | | than the other. Right there before my eyes, I was |
| local internist I had been seeing belonged to the old | | | | becoming that tangled mass of protoplasm. It was |
| school of joint protection. That was the philosophy | | | | indeed happening. That was my day of conversion. |
| which said, "If it hurts, let it rest." | | | | That was the day I began to embrace physical |
| I began to suspect if I let it rest any longer, my | | | | therapy, faithfully following all of my PT's |
| husband would come home one day and find me a | | | | recommendations for daily stretches and moderate |
| tangled mass of protoplasm! At the time, my arms | | | | exercise. I went on and connected with a local |
| and legs were intertwined, unable to even make it | | | | physical therapist, and he followed Dr. Bluestone's |
| into the bathroom. I was tired of lying down, loathed | | | | protocol. |
| the constant pain and felt completely ostracized from | | | | Over the last 20 years, I have relapsed many times, |
| society. By the time I saw Dr. Bluestone, I was on | | | | become lazy and let the whole movement thing slide, |
| my last nerve, dissolved into tears just talking about | | | | only to be brought back abruptly by the pain and |
| myself. It's important to note that this doctor is | | | | suffering that ignoring my body brings. True, it's |
| British, and he has a totally different idea about | | | | overused but the old adage is painfully true, "If you |
| moving the joints. Thankfully, those same ideas are | | | | don't use it, you lose it. |