In June of 2006 I was in a car accident. I was 18 years old and three months pregnant. I broke my back in three places and had spinal cord damage. I broke enough bones in my knee that I needed a plate and four screws put in. I had to have back surgery and was in the hospital for a month. That is when I was sent home with pain medication.
Fast forward, I went to my regular physician for follow-up because I felt pressure and a little bit of tingling in my butt and the back of legs down to my feet. After my physician watched me walk once, he prescribed me a total of 240 opiods.
It didn’t take long for me to experience the benefits of these pills, and even less time to realize that if I took one and felt that good, how will taking one more make me feel? I began seeing a doctor monthly to have my prescription refilled and increased. Then, I started running out. Then, they stopped working all together and I needed something stronger. I was taking percoset and we bumped it up to morphine. Finally, in 2011, I ended up in rehab.
I was in rehab for two weeks, and when I got out I was still experiencing pain. I was scared to go see a doctor because I did not want to end up where I was before. I was finally recommended a doctor by my family and told him my whole story. He recommended going to a pain management specialist. When I went to my pain management appointment she suggested Results Physiotherapy. They were the first people to tell me physical therapy was an option for managing pain.
In the 10 years I was in and out of physical therapy to regain functionailty I had never had anywhere NEAR the success I had with Results. I came in and my physical therapist, Natalie, asked “what are your goals?” I mentioned that I had always struggled with balance and she was the first person to give me hope that my balance wasn’t something I needed to deal with the rest of my life.
What was so scary is that I did not go to my physician to get pain medication, I came to understand my pain. I never once heard anything about physical therapy. If I had been referred to Results all those years ago, I truly do not think I would have gotten to the place that I was.
I’m so grateful to my therapy team at Results. Without them, I am convinced I would have never discovered how physical therapy can help reduce even the kind of severe pain I was experiencing.
If more physicians knew about Results and were more quick to recommend them I don’t think we would have all of these addictions and overdoses across the country. I love Results Physiotherapy and am so grateful for them.