We should have placed some bets on here to see how many of my physical therapy appointments I would go to. I really want my knees to get better and after two visits of therapy, I know I can do the therapy exercises at home. In fact, the first 15 minutes of my appointments involved riding a bicycle. I don’t even know how much these visits are going to cost. For some reason, they can’t tell you that until you get billed. But I won’t go off on that right now LOL. That’s a whole different story!
After two visits I quit. I’m on my own now. I do have some exercise sheets they gave me and I paid attention during my first visit when the therapist was explaining what was going on with my knees. I’ve also done quite a bit of research on the internet and armed with some fancy medical words that I learned from the therapists, I was able to find out some interesting things.
The bulk of my knee pain is likely due to the fact that I am an office worker who sits all of the time while working. The pain eases up on weekends (no work), but then starts back up on Monday. It also is exaggerated by being overweight.
I’m not sure how to fix the office work thing, but I can work to lose weight again (my weight has been pretty steady for some time now) and I can work on the exercises that they gave me. Hopefully these two things will do the trick. I am very grateful that surgery was never discussed because that leads me to believe that my knee pain can be relieved with some work.
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Posted: August 4th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
very useful articles
Posted: August 5th, 2008 at 1:38 am
biggest problem is once you get home and the pain goes away you stop doing the exercises. Last year I put my back out badly over Christmas in spite of that once the pain went away so did the exercises, finally after suffering 3 or 4 relapses I finally starting doing Abs every day, to remind myself I made a note in bright red ink and leave it around the house.
As a case in point I forgot to do my exercises yesterday so as soon as this comment is typed I will do them.
Posted: August 5th, 2008 at 2:55 am
I agree with Rob - I understand the expense but you probably won’t keep it up (not an indictment on you - just is the case for most patients!). For your sake, I really hope you do though.
Posted: August 5th, 2008 at 6:26 am
I do not think that you will only know how much you need to pay when you get billed after having the exercises. Physical therapy centers should have a detailed list of their services and fees, as most business establishments do.
What if you can’t afford to pay for it? How can they take back the service that they have provided to you?
With your work, make sure that you do not sit all day long. You can stand up every 30 minutes and stretch your arms. Drink plenty of water so that you will be urged to stand up and go to the comfort room.
Also try the stairs for a change. Get a massage while on your lunch break or after work. This will help ease the pain and relax the muscles.
Posted: August 5th, 2008 at 6:32 am
I apologize for my previous comment that I have placed a wrong link, that link (cash practices secrets) was about becoming a cash paid physical therapist. For this comment, I am changing it with a link to my blog on therapeutic wealth. Thanks!
Get well soon.
Posted: August 5th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Aw, and also mistyped my email address. Now, I got everything right.
Posted: August 5th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Tricia, did you get a detailed treatment plan from your physical therapist? I had some PT done for a badly sprained ankle with serious soft tissue damage. It’s been 4 years, but the pain is back after wearing sandals on uneven sidewalk and wrenching it again. I still have the rubber bands they gave me and the written treatment plans so I can repeat the same exercises I did with the therapist.
You might want to go back in a month for a follow up and keep a journal of what you’ve been doing to show them. I wouldn’t give up completely on PT just because of the expense. (But maybe I’m biased, I had a great therapist who was very helpful with all my questions and gave me ultrasonic treatments which helped a lot.) Maybe you could have cut back your visits?
I had insurance which covered my PT because the ER doctors wrote that PT was absolutely mandatory for me. I had sprained my ankle inside my ice skate and told them my ultimate goal was to learn to jump so the doctor was kind enough to mandate the therapy visits for me. I stayed off skates for 2 years on advice of the therapist and for a long time, my ankle was great till I sprained it again.
Posted: August 5th, 2008 at 8:45 am
As you move toward being more financially savvy, decide to never accept any service or item that you don’t know the price of. It’s an insane premise that they can’t tell you the price. Of course they can. You just have to be assertive and insist that they won’t get you as a patient until you know the price. I’ve had doctors and pharmacies try to pull the same thing, but they always manage to determine a price when I push.
Good idea regarding doing the exercises on your own at home and focusing on weight loss. With the exception of very specialized physical therapy for extreme injuries, most of it is stuff you can do on your own at home.
Posted: August 5th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
While I think the PT is important, the fact they could not give you a price is bogus!
Posted: August 6th, 2008 at 7:10 am
I did the same thing with exposure and response prevention therapy for OCD. My sessions were $125, and I had already learned the techniques online before going to my first appointment. My first appointment consisted of the therapist basically saying, “Yeah, wow, you’re doing a great job”.
Doing it on your own is the better way to go, and I kind of wish now that I had become a therapist.
Posted: August 6th, 2008 at 8:46 am
I was disabled for a time due to my back. Couldn’t get disability because I work for myself and have no disability insurance.
I could not sit for over 6 weeks so spent most of that time lying on the floor or standing.
Luckily, I have a laptop so was able to work lying on the floor (I had a dense foam ‘ramp’ I lay on that supported my body so I could type while lying in extension) and I put my laptop up on an archive box on my desk so I could work standing up.
See if you can modify your work environment (raise your monitor and keyboard by putting them up on boxes) so you can work standing for some of the time during the day.
(BTW: I did go to PT for the full time - 10 weeks in all, 3x per week at first, and did all the exercises she recommended, which included 10 minutes out of every hour. I was the ideal patient and got better much faster than any of her other patients at that time. I also avoided back surgery, which she felt was inevitable. And yes, it cost a small fortune but I could afford it. I go back about 1x per year for a reassessment since I’ve modified my life in order to keep mobile but want to be able to return to full motion eventually, such as lifting grandchildren when I get some.)
Posted: August 6th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I don’t want to go on a rant here (which I tend to do) but while it is important to look for and follow medical advice, it is very important to be pro-active about your medical care. Seek out practitioners who have the same views as yourself on alternative medicine and always always always get a price before starting any treatment. I agree that you can get it if not from your PT, from your insurance company and your PT office combined. I had an orthopedic doctor tell me years ago that I needed surgery on my knee for a torn miniscus. I told him, let’s just wait and see and I never had the surgery and while it aches on occasion, it usually gives me no problems. I realize that sometimes you can mess things up by waiting but an ethical/empathetic practitioner will tell you if that is an option. I also went through many PT sessions for my shoulder and ended up having surgery to really take care of the problem. In that case I felt the PT was a waste of time and money, but in some cases it can help and be less invasive. Not sure if it really is less expensive as PT can be very pricey (usually involving at least a $250 deductible). I guess my main point is to really educate yourself on the web and use all tools available to make an informed decision. We are all being prescribed too many drugs and the drug companies have too much influence (that goes along with too much money LOL).
Posted: August 6th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
mapgirl - I received a printout of all of the exercises that we were going to do during the therapy. So I have all of the instructions. The rest of my therapy was riding a bike, kinesio taping and the ultrasound treatment. I have a bike I use at home, the kinesio tape was great, but didn’t even last a day before it rolled up around the knee and the ultrasound treatment was nice too, but it made me feel like my knees were better when they weren’t. I am a believer that pain can be a good thing so you don’t overdo yourself.
Justine - we live in a rural area and there are few options for treatment. Trust me…I’ve tried to find out prices numerous times for many different things and threatened to take my business elsewhere. It’s probably because it’s related to a hospital and not a private practice. The one time I went to the ER/clinic - they couldn’t even tell me after the doctor saw me whether it would be charged as a clinic visit or ER visit. They said I had to wait until I got the bill. Times like these make me think a big city would be nice…competition would be nice!
I just want to clarify… The doctor said I could do it at home myself. She told me what muscles to work on. She then suggested therapy if I wanted it. I decided to try it and I now think it’s not necessary.
Danielle - it’s amazing the info you can find now on the internet! What did everyone do back then LOL.
I didn’t mention it yet, but I already ditched the $100/month prescription the doctor gave me. I know, I’m horrible. After reading up more on the web about it, I decided there was too much risk with the drug, especially since I had a bit of a fit on it. I thought it was a fluke, but after reading the article I don’t believe it was. BUT - my symptoms are fine with the second prescription I was given.
I definitely feel like there are too many drugs being prescribed. I tend to stay away from even things like Tylenol unless I’m really hurting and I will only take antibiotics unless absolutely necessary.
Posted: August 7th, 2008 at 12:17 am
I know you know this, but in my own experience, my weight plays a huge role in my knee pain. I injured my left knee last year, and once it was healed, it never hurt…until I gained back about 20 of the 37 pounds I had lost prior to the knee injury. I have daily knee pain now.
It’s soooo much easier said that done, but losing weight would not only benefit your knees, but also your stress level. I’m getting back on the weight loss path, myself.
Posted: August 19th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I am privately insured, pay $200 month. Under my plan, which is BCBS, I have to pay a $60 copay EACH PT visit. I had knee arthroscopy a month ago and my orthapedist ordered i attend PT 3 times a week. If you do the math, that’s $720 a month. So, as you might suspect, I have a problem with that. I have been to 3 sessions and am looking for an alternative treatment plan. I do exercises daily, but want to find another PT. But even though I met my deductible, I will still have to pay the 60 bucks for PT, I’m assuming anywhere. I’ve been searching for alternative services.