Now three weeks into 2022, we may find our resolutions fading, slowly but surely becoming overshadowed by work, commuting, and trying to maintain semi-decent relationships with both ourselves and others.
The new year beckons many of us to take stock of our lives. We measure where we are against where we want to be, and then we make goals that we believe will help us close the gap between our actual and potential/idealized selves.
So what do we do when our goals don’t feel quite as achievable as they did on December 31st?
We have to make a change (or changes).
What is one thing impacting you, that if you changed it, would greatly improve your quality of life?
For many of our patients, it’s pain.
They live day in and day out with some niggling, nagging pain. It’s a pain that tells them they can’t do what they want how they want, and more often than not, they listen to it. They adjust. They limit or stop activities that once brought them joy like running, playing on the ground with their kids, doing crossfit, having sex. The awkward movements they employ to help them avoid the movements that trigger pain become set into their bodies and cause weakness in other areas. The pain isn’t satisfied to stay isolated; it spreads, and one compensatory movement gives way to another, and on and on it goes.
Before they know it, months go by, and then years, and they sometimes fantasize what it would be like without the pain, but they don’t recall what it felt like not to feel; they don’t recall what it felt like just to be and to do without being hindered.
Next, often at the prodding of caring partners, or a very fed-up inner-voice, they decide to take action: they search to find someone or something to help.
And then the call comes through to our office, or maybe an online inquiry form, and we listen, we take in the stories, and we say “What you are going through is so common, but my dear, it is not normal. But you know what? It is so very treatable. You do not need to live like this. We CAN help.”
Oftentimes, they exhale audibly, letting out fear that they didn’t know they were holding. They feared a reality without pain was impossible, and they are ready to start believing it might not be.
One such patient, Nadia, came to us at 29-weeks pregnant with her 3rd beautiful son. She had experienced horrible pain, especially with walking and getting in and out of bed, since her first pregnancy 6 years prior. She described her pain during her first pregnancy as a 10, and although providers assured her it would go away after giving birth, it only ever decreased to a 5, and even at rest, she could never fully get it to a 0. After a few minutes of speaking with her, it became clear that she likely had been experiencing symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD, sometimes referred to generally as pelvic girdle pain) since her very first pregnancy.
Sweet Nadia limped into our office, clearly in excruciating pain. She said openly at the beginning of her first appointment, “I really don’t see how you can help me, but I guess I’ll try anything.”
By the end of her appointment, she had a significantly improved gait as well as a plan to proceed to strengthen her abdominals and increase both her hip and pelvic stability.
Nadia is now 4 weeks postpartum with her youngest (and positively delicious) son, and she practically struts into our office now. One of her older sons even remarked “Mommy, you walk so much quicker now!” which made all of us at the office teary-eyed.
Nadia is one of many who have come to us with much pain and little hope, and through her experience with OrthoPelvic PT, her life has changed.
Let me tell you, it never gets old having patients tell you that their experience was life-changing.
I’ll ask again: What is one thing impacting you, that if you changed it, would greatly improve your quality of life?
If your one thing is pain, I urge you to book a FREE 10-minute consult call. At OrthoPelvic Physical Therapy, we are pelvic health AND orthopedic specialists, so we are truly your one-stop shop for issues you’re experiencing.
The issues we treat most commonly are:
- Hip pain
- Leakage
- Pain with intercourse
- Low-back Pain
- Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD)
- Diastasis Rectus Abdominis
- Prolapse
- Constipation
But we also treat neck pain, foot pain, knee pain…You name it, we treat it.
So what is stopping you from making a change or keeping up with your resolutions? If it’s pain, know that you do not have to live this way. You CAN live pain-free again and get back to the activities that you love. Schedule your FREE 10-minute consult call today ✨
Be empowered in education, OrthoPelvic Physical Therapy
