Patient Kate’s experience of FP Physiotherapy
Kate has kindly shared her experience of attending the practice with an unexpected, untimely problem that threatened to derail her plans and goals. Over to Kate…..
“My name Is Kate, I am a keen runner, ecologist, paddleboarder and mum of twins. Balancing work, family and training is a fine balance and means that I don’t have time for injuries!!!!
In early May I was getting towards the end of my training for a half marathon. Training was going well and I had long runs programmed throughout May. However, after some strengthening sessions, I noticed that I had what felt like plantar fasciitis pain in my foot. Something definitely felt very wrong. The following morning I got up for my 12-mile training run and couldn’t walk 1 mile, let alone run 12 miles! Throughout the morning I noticed that, in addition to the pain in my foot, my leg felt very heavy and unpleasant. Within a short period of time, the pain had spread to most of my lower leg and I was struggling to weight bear.
I wasn’t sure what was wrong but I knew I needed it to be sorted as I had a number of long training runs planned. I had seen Ricky before for other things like Achilles and knee problems so I thought he would be able to give me some answers. I just hoped he wouldn’t say you have to stop training as I really wanted to continue running and to do my half marathon in one month’s time.
I was able to see Ricky just 1 day after the onset of symptoms. Ricky performed a thorough assessment around my ankle and calf but couldn’t find much wrong and definitely no flare up of an old Achilles injury. But due to the history and how the pain was behaving, Ricky thought it must be coming from my back. He did a few more tests and movements around my lower back. Every time he pressed on the right side of my lower back, I immediately felt pain spreading down my leg into my foot.
During the whole appointment, Ricky was able to put me at ease and ruled out anything major. I was surprised when he said it was coming from my back. I was even more pleasantly surprised when some treatment around my back made my leg feel a lot looser and lighter almost immediately. Ricky never told me to stop exercising completely, he did advise a few days of relative rest, some home exercises/stretches and a gradual return to running over a week. I was very happy that we were able to get to the bottom of my issue quickly and 2 weeks later I completed my 12-mile training run and one month later I ran the half marathon in a good, competitive time (see attached picture)”
Kate’s story is a great example of what early Physiotherapy assessment and intervention can achieve. Professional, experienced assessment can rule out serious problems, allay fears, provide a firm diagnosis with reassurance allowing tailored individual treatment to be given backed up with specific stretches and exercises.
Well done Kate. Keep running!
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