When a Physical Therapist Has Back Pain

I hurt my back about 6 weeks ago. Like many injuries – I tried something stupid and it didn’t work out.

As a Physical Therapist I used my rational part of my brain and did a quick scan and I seemed okay. As a human I used my emotional brain and did two things – thought of the worst case scenario and simultaneously told myself ignore it, I’ll be fine. Human won over PT and I continued on with life ignoring it but also worried about the worst case scenario.

A week later after skiing with my three-year-old (remember human, not PT), I was unable to sleep that night with severe radiating pain.  After a totally lame day of feeling horrible and doing nothing, I decided I needed to change my perspective. I chose to: 1) not ignore the fact that I hurt my back, 2) put my PT hat back on and 3) most importantly, give myself grace to be patient with the process. 

So I started icing my back and doing gentle stretching and movement exercises every damn day. I temporarily avoided a few more painful or demanding activities AND chose a few gentler versions of those activities so I could work back into all the things I love. 

It worked! 

My back feels great most of the time and I’m still working on getting all my strength back. In the clinic I hear the start of this story all the time. I do not often hear the same ending because as humans, it is really hard for us to be patient with the process. Sometimes it takes a caring Physical Therapist to remind you. It did for me.

For more information, visit our webpage on the topic of back pain by clicking here.