Monday, May 12, 2008

The ageing body

I've come to the realization that I am an inveterate consumer of health care. Don't know whether this is a by-product of living in the good old USA and thinking, by golly, I better get some care, 40 million people don't, or just a natural result of ageing. The body falling apart and hence requiring more intervention... Those following my health (fascinating topic) will know I had the MRI a couple of weeks ago. It showed (always good that it shows something consistent with the pain) that I have disc degeneration... yikes... disc protrusion... OMG... and Schmorl's nodes... WTF?
All of this is in the thoracic region (at T-11 and T-12 for you in the know). Today I had my first physical therapy appointment with a lovely man called Tyler who clucked and agreed that I couldn't go on in my condition and we needed to get me sorted out. This involved today just learning some exercises and having electrodes and an ice pad applied to my back for 15 minutes. Next time I get to do more exercises and try out "traction". The whole PT practice is a jolly place full of people hooked up to various bits of equipment or doing odd things in the gym. There was one guy repetitively throwing a ball at a small trampoline. I thought repetitive motion was bad for you, but apparently in some cases it is the cure.

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