I am so grateful that John was able to receive physical therapy for his back that has been hurting for a long time. It had been a year since he first hurt it by jumping into a pile of leaves that had some bricks in the bottom of the pile.We were actually able to count up 6 specific injuries over the past year to his lower back.
He hurt it twice sledding, and once jumping over a chair in the yard and hitting the ground. It almost reminded me of "Survival of the Fitest"- it's not wise to participate in activities that will likely cause an injury!!! I think it was more a case of this being a weak area- some kids will get sore throats, others will show sickness as asthma or frequent earaches.
Although sitting in our dining room chair with a math book in front of him really set his pain off in the beginning, it was becoming more and more frequent. All kidding aside, I felt so helpless and concerned wondering if he would be able to get better.So many back injuries seem to be chronic.The first doctor I had taken him to months before had said that it was a muscle strain and was nothing to worry about. After considering calling a chiropractor, I made an appointment with a new doctor's office. His X-Ray was normal, but still, Physical Therapy was ordered.
Our therapist specializes in back injuries.Over a period of four or five weeks, through a process of elimination, she was able to determine which exercises helped his back. She could see how concerned I was and was very reassuring and hopeful. John had to do these exercises at home four times per day. We kept a checklist on the counter as a reminder for both of us.
It was very sad to see him in pain. His back hurt while walking through the grocery store and was hurting while we opened our Christmas presents. I wished that I could take the pain upon myself. One day while doing his exercises on the floor, he felt something "pop" or "break" in his lower back. Then he had the worst pain ever and cried for twenty minutes. Just then it started to snow outside and he was able to finish his set of 15 forward reaches with legs extended, in order to be able to go outside.That pop seemed to have released something that was in the wrong place because he started to make more progress after that.We continued to pray for him to get better.
We finished Physical Therapy after phasing down from two visits per week to one for a few weeks, with much less pain. He needs to continue to do his exercises at home. By God's Grace, I haven't heard him mention his back much at all lately. The level of his pain has dropped from a "6" to a "3" and now he seems comfortable most of the time. Just writing this reminded me to make another exercise checklist for him to continue so that he can maintain what was accomplished in therapy. Throughout the whole process, I felt so grateful to be able to get some help for my son. In the future, I hope that John will be more careful with activities that could possibly re-injure his back.
