So I had my first physio appointment of the year last week and it went just like I hoped it would.
Since getting a new splint for my left foot sometime last month I was really pleased when I could tell right away that it was a million miles better than the last one I had.
Although I’m still building up the amount of time I can wear it in one go, I can have it on for a few hours now before I feel the need to take it back again.
I went to see my physio yesterday so that we could discuss if my Boxtox injections I had earlier this month had made a difference. Before I went into the appointment, I knew that I was starting to notice some changes myself. I’m already starting to feel less tight and my muscles didn’t feel as tight as they had previously done when I was having physio. I felt slightly nervous going into the appointment because I really hoped that my physio would agree with me and I didn’t want to feel like I’d let anyone down, especially myself.
Well, I’m very pleased to report that she was impressed! She started doing lots of my stretches and told me that she was pleased, so I told her about all the hard work that my family have been putting in to help me get the most out of the injections and she seemed really happy about that too. They’ve been helping out with the ones that I find it very difficult to do by myself, and constantly reminding me to keep going through those that I can do. Believe me when I say this support makes a huge difference and helps me stay motivated.
She gave me some new exercises to try, neither of which I find very easy at the moment, but I’ll just have to keep going with them until it gets easier. Then we did some work where I walk and stand while holding onto a bar on either side of me. She also said that she was impressed with how straight I was standing up too when she got me to focus on doing that. I’m not a medical professional so I don’t know if this is down to the Botox or not, but I was still glad that she was pleased.
Needless to say, I left the appointment feeling very happy indeed.
My Physiotherapy session the other day went well. We focused a lot on my ankles, my hips and my legs. I came away with some new stretches to focus on. One is something that I’ll be able to build pretty easily into my normal daily routine. It basically involves sitting in ways that will stretch my adductors, the muscles around your inner thigh that you use to bring your knees together. This I should be able to do while I’m on the computer, watching TV or reading, so that it shouldn’t be too hard. The other stretch will lengthen the gastrocnemius muscles in my ankles and lower legs, (these are the ones that help you run and things like that), which have been feeling pretty tight lately. I have to remember to stretch three times a day. The gastrocnemius stretch will be the one that I’ll find hard to do at first I think, partly because I don’t find the stretch itself all that easy to do, and secondly because I’ll have to try and remember to build it into my day at intervals that work well for me. I know this sounds like it should be easy, but believe me, it’s also easy to let it pass me by when I’m doing other things. Maybe I should do it before my meals or something? Hmmm…
We also discussed the Botox injections that I’ll be having in my legs in the next few weeks. These should help to relax the muscles so they won’t be quite as tight as they have been. When I have these done I’ll have to do lots of intensive physio to get the best results out of the treatment. This appointment was made months ago, and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since. It’s something that’s worked well for me in the past, and I’m hoping that it will again. As always, time will tell and I’ll keep you all updated
I also managed to pick my night splints back up the other day and they now have walking grips on the bottom so I won’t have to take them off if I need to get up in the middle of the night. I’ll let you know how that works out.
Well today’s the day I go for another appointment with my physio, and I’m pretty glad about it. If I’m being honest I feel like the muscles in my legs, especially around my knees and ankles have tightened up lately. I’m not a medical professional so I can’t say for sure that they are, but it will be nice to get her opinion on things.
I won’t be surprised if she agrees with me that my legs are getting tighter, but it’s still not something I’ll be happy to hear all the same.
While I’m at the hospital I’m going to pick my night splints back up too because I’m told that they’re ready for collection after I sent them off to have some walking grips put on the bottom. This means I’ll (hopefully) be able to wear them for longer periods without having to take them off and ask someone else to put them back on. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to take some pictures to put on here too.
That’s it for today, a short and sweet update. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that I have some interesting, and maybe exciting, things to tell you all about my physio session and my night splints next week.
I feel that I need to start today’s post with a confession.
I haven’t been keeping on top of my physio as much as I should.
Yeah, I will admit, I haven’t been keeping on top of physio and stretches as much as I should be doing. I feel quite guilty about this. I know that I need to get into some kind of routine with them.
The stretches that I have don’t actually take me all that long to do so hopefully I won’t find it too hard to get into the swing of things. Although I worry that might be easier said than done.
I really don’t like admitting that I’ve let things slip a bit on the physio front, so let’s hope that I can get myself back on the right track so that I can write a more positive post about that.
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