I failed rehab three times in a row.
Most physical therapists join the profession because they had a fabulous PT experience in their childhood or adolescence. My path to PT was quite the opposite.
Here’s how failing physical therapy 3 times changed my life.
1) Missed Diagnosis
Like many young boys, I aspired to play baseball in the majors.
By age 12, I was playing 3rd base in travel ball. All those long throws across the diamond caused me chronic elbow pain, which is how I landed in PT for the 1st time.
The PT never figured out the problem (it was biceps tendonitis) or modified my painful activities (throwing a baseball). Instead, he sent me home with a laundry list of general exercises to strengthen my upper back and core muscles.
And I had strict instructions to rub an ice cube on my elbow until it goes numb. Twice a day. It was the old throw-things-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach.
The only thing that stuck was me, to my PT and icing routine, for 12 weeks. The elbow pain stuck around, too. After failing PT, the sports medicine doctor sent me to a psychotherapist to see if the pain was all in my head.
It wasn’t.
And since my elbow was structurally sound, the doctor sent me back to baseball in spite of the persistent pain. Eventually, I quit baseball after 1 high school season because my elbow pain never abated.
Pain 1, Jacob 0
2) User Error
Low back pain sent me back to physical therapy when I was in college. This time, I worked with a PT I knew from church. My back pain intensified every time I sat down. So my PT prescribed McKenzie extension exercises 4-5 times per day.
This time, I slacked off my home exercises. And after 2 or 3 sessions, I had to return to college.
In retrospect, the McKenzie exercises were exactly what my back needed – I would have recovered fast if I did the press-up exercises consistently.
It was my 2nd time failing physical therapy, and this time it was my fault.
Pain 2, Jacob 0
3) Bad Treatments
Rehab Round 3 happened in my college athletic training room.
Low back pain still haunted me, and now it was worse than ever. Unfortunately, so were the treatments.
A decade later, I still cringe at the poor rehab plan. Here’s how a typical session went:
First, I got electrical stimulation for my low back muscles, a near-worthless treatment.
Next, the trainer stretched my hamstrings and cranked my back into flexion (forward bending). Contrary to popular belief, hamstring stretching is rarely useful for back pain.
Plus, my low back is flexion-sensitive, so sitting and stretching into flexion aggravated my symptoms.
After stretching my back in the wrong direction, they strapped me into the lumbar traction machine. Lumbar traction is a reasonable treatment choice for individuals with a sensitive pinched nerve in the lower back.
Problem was, I didn’t have a pinched nerve. And guidelines recommend against lumbar traction for back pain without nerve-related leg pain.
Adding insult to injury, the trainers used a traction protocol for lumbar stenosis, a common ailment in 80-year-olds (but not 19-year-old college athletes).
Last but not least, they encouraged me to take ibuprofen, which may cause chronic back pain according to new research. No surprise, my back pain flare-up lasted longer than normal.
Pain 3, Jacob 0
Lessons from Failing Physical Therapy
You can’t go wrong if you do the opposite of what I did. Here’s what failing physical therapy taught me the hard way:
1. Find a physical therapist you trust, who can explain what’s going on.
2. When your PT gives you home exercises, do them diligently.
3. If your treatment sessions are filled with low-ranking treatments, run!
A High Note
I eventually learned how to control my low back pain.
For me, it took sitting with less pain, using repeated movements to manage symptoms, and building strength with this unexpected exercise.
And the chronic elbow pain was a blessing in disguise. I quit baseball and enjoyed successful in high school and collegiate golf campaigns.
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