Physiotherapy and lingerie.

Q. How NOT to do physiotherapy?

A. Forget your gym kit for your physio session and (due to lack of clean laundry) be wearing your last pair of clean underwear, which are sheer because you've had to dig lingerie out of the back of your sock drawer. Of course you haven't worn the lingerie in ages because it's hard to feel sexy when you've been sent home from the hospital with a raised toilet seat.

I can laugh at it now but this goes for any manual therapy or clinical session where you might be asked to strip down to undergarments. Nothing is more fun than humiliation layered on top of pain. Except for maybe explaining to the male physio why you think it's best that you do your physio session in your jeggings.

Don't go to physio a couple of times and then give up because it hurts more after.

Don't go to physio consistently, tell your physio you're doing everything they say and then not do your exercises very often or at all.

Don't go to physio and then give up because you feel your physio doesn't believe how much pain you have.

And most importantly, don't go to physio and expect them or

physiotherapy to CURE you.

Ok, what I'm about to say goes for any evidence-based manual therapy such as osteopathy or physiotherapy or wait, ANY treatment modality there is for pain.

THERE IS NO ONE CURE ALL FOR PAIN.

I can not repeat this enough. Seriously.

What can you do then??

Try physio and know that most clinicians are doing the best they can with what they have.

Try physio and try to be honest about what you're capable of. Did you understand what they have told you? Do you agree with their treatment plan enough to try to work with them? Do you think you can fit what they're asking you to do, into your life? Tell them if not, get a less intense plan. IT'S YOUR BODY.

Try physio and understand that manual therapies are like going to a gym or learning a new language, they take time, they can suck along the way and although no one told me, it is clear that most changes will take months (or years for some of us who really need to retrain the whole damn nervous system). But like the gym or a fancy new accent, worth the damn effort if it's a fit. It will look and feel good AFTER the investment. I'm not gonna lie, you may get a little worse before you get better and you might have to fight like hell to find common ground with those trying to help you get better.

Try physio and know that this is only one slice of managing the pain pie.

Manuel therapists, GP's, pain consultants, back specialists, pain specialists, etc... are not trained to advise or give you everything you will need to manage your pain. And if you're manual therapy is giving you more pain, stop, adjust, pace yourself and tell your therapist. The "no pain no gain" cliche makes me want to give other people pain.

And if you think you've found the one thing that cures pain, then I'm sorry to say there's a good chance you are currently overdosing on fentanyl. Obviously not how to do physio either.

That said, if a bunch of clinicians like your GP, a manual therapist, a self-management specialist and a pain advisor get together and say they can help you figure out how to manage things, this is a start. Follow this rag tag group down the yellow brick road.

Personally, I'd definitely have been more successful with physio the first couple of times round if I had realised I would need more than one piece of pie to get better. I wish someone had told me that movement is essential to get better but how you move is individual. AND pain relief has to be administered along side the pain work.

This is pain management and frankly you're only with your practitioner/clinician maybe 3% of the time (unless you're an inpatient and then enjoy the pudding while you can).

I really wish someone had told me that the rest of the time an overly critical, part terrified and part "stabby" (as the brilliant pain patient The Bloggess coined) person (ie. ME) would be in charge of all other arrangements. Seriously bad planning on behalf of whoever is in charge.

So, wear clean underwear (buy more online if you run out and literally hurt too much to do laundry) and find a damn good manual therapist who you trust to get you moving slowly but surely. And remember, a therapist you trust is most important. It may be trial and error at first by this is a legitimate problem solving method, I swear.