PT World

I have been going to physical therapy for a pain in my calf that I have had for almost a year. I didn’t do anything about it for a while because of Covid (seemed too minor and insubstantial at the time) but I finally couldn’t take it anymore and I went to the doctor. After an examination, X-rays, an ultrasound and an MRI they found…..nothing. I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon who theorized that it might be sciatica.  He recommended PT, which I have been going to for 5 weeks now.  It has helped some and I hope that by the time I’ve got 8 weeks under my belt it will have helped a lot.  

I find the PT setting to be a little society unto itself.  I tend to see some of the same people week after week because I go at approximately the same day and time. But once in a while a new person enters the mix. You are usually lying down on a table doing some kind of exercise so you hear snatches of many different conversations.  One woman described her vacation to Charleston two years ago and I thought I was listening to myself talk because we went to Charleston two years ago and did the exact same things as she did. A young girl comes in wearing Ugg boots, a sweater and a coat, which she never takes off, no matter what they make her do.  There is a really young kid, maybe 12 years old and I want to ask him, “what are you in for”?  And of course there’s Mr. Testosterone. He does everything as fast and as hard as he can. He talks loud and makes tremendous noises as he exercises. I only saw him once but that was enough. My PT is a very nice woman named Carla and we talk about the usual casual conversation type things; kids, the weather, our jobs, etc. The other day as I was leaving I heard her start a conversation with her next patient and they were talking about kids, the weather, their jobs. 

It has been an interesting experience!