Physiotherapy

Today was the first day of physiotherapy. The appointment was supposed to be 1pm, but I was called and asked to see a different therapist at 11am. That was not a problem.

The young lady, and her student assessed my movement, strength and posture. In trying to use the arm I have been compensating for its lack of strength with other muscles, mainly in my neck. She said relax, and let her know when the movement became painful, I found that very hard. It seems impossible for me to do that. At one point I was helping with the movement, at others I was unable to resist even the smallest pressure. I have to try to keep my hand raised a little at night to let the swelling go down.

I have been given some exercises and told to take my pain killers (paracetamol). "Its going to hurt, so take your pain killers, and do the exercises. If you need to, get stronger ones from the doctor."

I came home and tried the 6 exercises. I managed all six, and was surprised at the movement I had. Despite taking the pain killers I was in agony, and found it almost impossible to concentrate for three hours, as waves of pain distracted me from the work in hand.

As I have no guidance on how often to do them, ("As often as possible" - is not a helpful answer), I decided to aim for three times a day initially. One in the morning, one before tea, and one later in the evening. We will see how it goes.

I have just completed the second round. I could only do five of the six. I can no longer get my arm behind my back for the final one. After these the swelling is worse, the muscles are tight, and I have pins and needles in my hand (for the first time since the accident). I am back to typing with my left hand. My right arm does not respond adequately, it is also too painful to have it on the desk.

No more tonight unless it changes a lot.