4 November 2005
This is the first diary entry for a while. I have been so busy with Tim's BASs and tax return in the past few weeks. Fortunately, they are all finished now. Technically, I shouldn't mention that I have been helping with Tim's accounts because if I'm well enough to do those, the insurance company would think I'm well enough to return to work. One thing I always remind Tim is that he is so lucky to have me helping him with the accounts, I remember doing the accounts and BASs for him at MECRS a month after my surgery. I couldn't even walk back then yet I managed to drag myself out of bed and sitting in my wheelchair, typing with one finger on my laptop and finished the accounts and BASs for him. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the accounts but at least they were done.
I had physio at Epworth this morning. I had a pretty good session with Ruth. I must say I have been feeling a bit depressed about my progress lately. I felt I haven't made much progress ever since Gavin went on leave. I had a different physio on Wednesday because Ruth wasn't there and I felt terrible(emotionally) after my session. I only had 45 minutes session there because the physio claimed I was there early anyway. I think changing physio is as bad as changing accountant. I remember when I worked in accounting firms, it usually took a while to get to know the client's business and tidy up their accounts or system. It's very hard to work with a physio who doesn't know my situation. I remeber telling Tim after my Wednesday session that I'll probably never run again.
Today's session with Ruth was much better. She said she's spoke with Gavin and he told her that she needs to push me harder over the next 2-3 months. She's decided to let me wear my ankle brace so she can work me harder without the risk of injuring my ankle. I asked her if that's going to prevent me from running without a brace in future. She said it shouldn't. I think after speaking with Gavin, she just wants to get me to run first and then worrying about running without the brace.
I'm not sure what 2-3 months means because I thought he is only away for 2 months. I'm not sure if this means he won't be treating me anymore. Someone was telling Gary the other day that Gavin has applied for some research grant and will probably only work part time next year. He is probably trying to offload his patients so he can get on with his research. I think I have taken him for granted after a while. I thought all the physios at Epworth are good but now I realised he is exceptionally good and it's very hard to find another physio like him.
Ruth got me to practice on the trampoline for a while. I know I need to concentrate on lifting up the left leg higher, land on my toes and stay shorter on my left leg but I can't do all three things at once so I asked her if I can just focus on one thing at a time but she said all those are important so I can't really practice them in isolation. She then got me to run on the floor in the hallway. It's very quiet today so we had a clear runway. Chris, an exercise physiologist, walked pass and Ruth asked him for his opinion. She said Chris is also a running expert. He watched me running a few times and then Ruth sent me back on the trampoline. I don't know what he thought of my running because they were discussing about me in a different room and I couldn't hear them. He then watched me running on the trampoline and told Ruth something which I didn't really catch. He then went away and came back with a sling attached to some kind of theraband and belt. I don't know what it's called and I don't know what it's supposed to do until they put it on me. Since I have problem lifting me left leg up high enough, by using this apparatus, it helps me to lift up my left leg. In fact, it's actually hard to keep my left leg down when this is on me.
He also told me that I have to keep my trunk upright when I run because I have a tendency to bend over. I think I'm going to practise running in front of a mirror at home.
I must say I'm feeling a lot more positive after my physio session today - a feeling I haven't had since Gavin went on leave. I think with the help from Ruth and Chris, I should be able to run.
Something I should mention is that my personal trainer, Mary, has just updated her profile recently. I noticed that she is now also experienced in rehabilitation and 'neural' exercise therapy. She explained to me that she also has another client who has neuro disease but she insists it's not in a bad way. I'm not sure what neuro disease her other client has. I was very tempted to ask her if it's MS or Parkinsons. I just thought it's funny how she put 'neural' exercise therapy instead of 'neurological' exercise therapy. I suspect it might be because when I told her about neuro (short for neurological) physio, she thought it's neural. I sometimes feel a bit guilty for not pointing this out to her but then again if someone who is looking for a personal trainer who specialises in neuro, they probably shouldn't go to someone who specialises in 'neural'.
I have been feeling a bit unhappy with Mary for a while but unfortunately, I just found out from the gym manager a few days ago that I cannot bring my own trainer to the gym because the gym has an exclusive contract with the personal training group there. I was hoping that I can try out the trainer Gavin mentioned and if he is good, I might swap my trainer. Tim thinks I'm using Mary for the wrong purpose because she is not meant to be a physio. I know she is not a physio but for someone who claims to be an exercise physiologist and personal trainer, she should know her muscles pretty well. I had an argument with her about calves and tib ante (tibialis anterior) yesterday. She put me on this machine to work out my calf a few weeks ago and she told me it's working the gastrocnemius, which is the most prominent calf muscle in the leg and it's the one I need for running and jumping. I didn't suspect anything until I spoke to Ruth and realised that I was working on soleus, not gastroc. I told Mary about this but she blamed her team leader, Mike, for this. She said she always gets confused which machine works the gastroc and which one works the soleus and he was the one who told her this machine works the gastroc. I thought it should be easy to remember because the machine that works the gastroc, you have to do it standing with straight knees and the one that works the soleus has to be done in sitting with flexed knees. It's easy to remember because you must bend your knee to stretch the soleus and straighten the knee to stretch the soleus. I got a bit annoyed with Mary when she told me she wanted me to work on the soleus because it can help me with heel strike when I'm walking. She said when I walk I tend to land on my toe instead of heel on the left foot. I told her I think it's tib ante that does it because I need to dorsiflex to get a heel strike. She was trying to tell me that it's the soleus that does it and I had to tell her that it's the tib ante that does the dorsiflexion. I appreciate that she takes notes of my gait but when she started talking rubbish, it just really irritated me. I think I might be a difficult case for her because most of her clients would probably believe her and she can just say whatever and wouldn't even question her. I took interests in learning all these because initially, I didn't trust the staff and MECRS and later on, I just found it interesting.
I had physio at Epworth this morning. I had a pretty good session with Ruth. I must say I have been feeling a bit depressed about my progress lately. I felt I haven't made much progress ever since Gavin went on leave. I had a different physio on Wednesday because Ruth wasn't there and I felt terrible(emotionally) after my session. I only had 45 minutes session there because the physio claimed I was there early anyway. I think changing physio is as bad as changing accountant. I remember when I worked in accounting firms, it usually took a while to get to know the client's business and tidy up their accounts or system. It's very hard to work with a physio who doesn't know my situation. I remeber telling Tim after my Wednesday session that I'll probably never run again.
Today's session with Ruth was much better. She said she's spoke with Gavin and he told her that she needs to push me harder over the next 2-3 months. She's decided to let me wear my ankle brace so she can work me harder without the risk of injuring my ankle. I asked her if that's going to prevent me from running without a brace in future. She said it shouldn't. I think after speaking with Gavin, she just wants to get me to run first and then worrying about running without the brace.
I'm not sure what 2-3 months means because I thought he is only away for 2 months. I'm not sure if this means he won't be treating me anymore. Someone was telling Gary the other day that Gavin has applied for some research grant and will probably only work part time next year. He is probably trying to offload his patients so he can get on with his research. I think I have taken him for granted after a while. I thought all the physios at Epworth are good but now I realised he is exceptionally good and it's very hard to find another physio like him.
Ruth got me to practice on the trampoline for a while. I know I need to concentrate on lifting up the left leg higher, land on my toes and stay shorter on my left leg but I can't do all three things at once so I asked her if I can just focus on one thing at a time but she said all those are important so I can't really practice them in isolation. She then got me to run on the floor in the hallway. It's very quiet today so we had a clear runway. Chris, an exercise physiologist, walked pass and Ruth asked him for his opinion. She said Chris is also a running expert. He watched me running a few times and then Ruth sent me back on the trampoline. I don't know what he thought of my running because they were discussing about me in a different room and I couldn't hear them. He then watched me running on the trampoline and told Ruth something which I didn't really catch. He then went away and came back with a sling attached to some kind of theraband and belt. I don't know what it's called and I don't know what it's supposed to do until they put it on me. Since I have problem lifting me left leg up high enough, by using this apparatus, it helps me to lift up my left leg. In fact, it's actually hard to keep my left leg down when this is on me.
He also told me that I have to keep my trunk upright when I run because I have a tendency to bend over. I think I'm going to practise running in front of a mirror at home.
I must say I'm feeling a lot more positive after my physio session today - a feeling I haven't had since Gavin went on leave. I think with the help from Ruth and Chris, I should be able to run.
Something I should mention is that my personal trainer, Mary, has just updated her profile recently. I noticed that she is now also experienced in rehabilitation and 'neural' exercise therapy. She explained to me that she also has another client who has neuro disease but she insists it's not in a bad way. I'm not sure what neuro disease her other client has. I was very tempted to ask her if it's MS or Parkinsons. I just thought it's funny how she put 'neural' exercise therapy instead of 'neurological' exercise therapy. I suspect it might be because when I told her about neuro (short for neurological) physio, she thought it's neural. I sometimes feel a bit guilty for not pointing this out to her but then again if someone who is looking for a personal trainer who specialises in neuro, they probably shouldn't go to someone who specialises in 'neural'.
I have been feeling a bit unhappy with Mary for a while but unfortunately, I just found out from the gym manager a few days ago that I cannot bring my own trainer to the gym because the gym has an exclusive contract with the personal training group there. I was hoping that I can try out the trainer Gavin mentioned and if he is good, I might swap my trainer. Tim thinks I'm using Mary for the wrong purpose because she is not meant to be a physio. I know she is not a physio but for someone who claims to be an exercise physiologist and personal trainer, she should know her muscles pretty well. I had an argument with her about calves and tib ante (tibialis anterior) yesterday. She put me on this machine to work out my calf a few weeks ago and she told me it's working the gastrocnemius, which is the most prominent calf muscle in the leg and it's the one I need for running and jumping. I didn't suspect anything until I spoke to Ruth and realised that I was working on soleus, not gastroc. I told Mary about this but she blamed her team leader, Mike, for this. She said she always gets confused which machine works the gastroc and which one works the soleus and he was the one who told her this machine works the gastroc. I thought it should be easy to remember because the machine that works the gastroc, you have to do it standing with straight knees and the one that works the soleus has to be done in sitting with flexed knees. It's easy to remember because you must bend your knee to stretch the soleus and straighten the knee to stretch the soleus. I got a bit annoyed with Mary when she told me she wanted me to work on the soleus because it can help me with heel strike when I'm walking. She said when I walk I tend to land on my toe instead of heel on the left foot. I told her I think it's tib ante that does it because I need to dorsiflex to get a heel strike. She was trying to tell me that it's the soleus that does it and I had to tell her that it's the tib ante that does the dorsiflexion. I appreciate that she takes notes of my gait but when she started talking rubbish, it just really irritated me. I think I might be a difficult case for her because most of her clients would probably believe her and she can just say whatever and wouldn't even question her. I took interests in learning all these because initially, I didn't trust the staff and MECRS and later on, I just found it interesting.
posted by Teresa Liu at 7:17 PM
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