Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Happy Spring, My Ass

Ugh. Our luck ran out this morning. We've been fortunate to avoid snow for most of the season. Now that it's Spring, it only makes sense for us to get a storm. Normally, I wouldn't care but I am officially alone until late Thursday night. Herr Hausfrau is heading to Salt Lake City today for his first of seven interviews across the country over the next three weeks.

Cold Crappy Weather+Wind=ape-shit children

I am praying that the sun will come back out tomorrow with a high of 70 degrees. Don't laugh. It could happen.

I went to my very first ever Physical Therapy Session last evening. Not so impressed. For those of you keeping score at home, I have Plantar Fibromatosis. The non-medical term for this is, "My Heels Fucking Hurt Like Bloody Hell Every Damn Day." It seems that I overdid it at my new gym a month ago, hitting the treadmill and elliptical machine for too long and didn't properly stretch. As a result, I would get out of bed in the morning and promptly fall over from the pain in my feet. No lie. I had this problem about 8 years ago but it wasn't nearly this bad. It went away after I stopped wearing heels to work every day and wore a heel cup in my shoes for a couple of months. I couldn't take the pain anymore a couple of weeks ago, so I went to a podiatrist who prescribed foot exercises before getting out of bed and at night, anti-inflammatories, ice on my heels at night and physical therapy twice a week for three weeks. The hardest part is wearing shoes on my feet at all times. I am a barefoot or flip flop wearing kind of a girl.

The Physical Therapist, "Steve" made me instantly uncomfortable. I am a huge advocate for respecting people's personal space. Steve apparently doesn't subscribe to that philosophy. He is also touchy-feely. He kept touching the small of my back to guide me to places around the room. He also kept sliding his hand down my entire back when I did stretching exercises. The absolute worst part was when I was on an examining table and he was holding my foot and wanted me to push it towards him. That would have been OK, but he was making me push my foot into his GROIN!

Does anyone know if this is normal? I initially wasn't overly concerned because I thought he was gay and I have several touchy-feely gay friends. But then he started talking about his WIFE AND KIDS. I didn't want to give the 90 year old man next to me a heart attack if I started getting belligerent with him, so I didn't say anything there.

I would like to get some opinions, though. I plan on changing Physical Therapists, but I need to figure out how I should best complain. Any ideas?

13 comments:

c said...

Oh jeez. First, is that what I have, then? Cos I have TERRIBLE heel pain ALL THE TIME now. I guess I should see a doctor about it, just like Mr. Foot has been pushing to do, eh?

Anyway, yes, change therapists! The groin thing did it for me! You can simply say that you aren't comfortable working with him, that certain people don't "gel" together. I think that's acceptable. Of course, it's also acceptable for you to say that his touch makes you uncomfortable.

kimmyk said...

i would ask to have a female therapist or something. i've had heel spurs before and those bitches hurt....so i feel ya girlie!

good luck to the hubs on the interview....man salt lake city would be awesome huh?

and you'll get out of this crazy ass ohio weather....

L. said...

I probably wouldn`t have been able to keep quiet if a doc wanted me to push my foot into his groin, even if it was completely innocent (and I`ll give him the benefit of the doubt that it was). I`m too much of a prude to do it, and yet my big mouth would have been unable to restrain itself from saying something like, "Can`t you stand SIDEWAYS, or something?"

Pinterest Failures said...

I guess I should expand on the whole foot in groin thing. I did tell him he needed to back up or I would hurt him. He looked at me a little confused.

The June Cleaver Diaries said...

When I do evals on new patients, I absolutly have to touch them. I think some therapists )not me) get so used to the 'hands on' aspect of the job that they forget that the PATIENTS aren't used to it.

But, saying that, he had no professional reason to be guiding you by the small of your back. As far as rubbing your back when you stretched, he may have been trying to see how tight your back muscles are, or he may have been trying to coax you further into the stretch. THis is all assuming, of course, that the stretch was to touch your toes. Otherwise, it was completely inappropriate. As far as the groin thing goes, if it really was actually into his sack that you were pushing, that's a little skeevy. Pushing into his upper thigh would be okay--- he needs enough strength to counterbalance himself, and that's a good way to do ot/

But overall, it sounds weird--- change therapists, and don't worry about a thing.

Kara said...

hmmm... sounds creepy. hubby is in the same line of work and is pathological about explaining the why's of what he's doing while he's doing it. he also won't lay hands on a female patient without another person in the room. HE's not skeezy. but your guy sounds a little 'off.'

Christina said...

Yeah, he sounds a little creepy. I get nervous around very touchy-feely people.

Oh, and it's totally possible the weather could be 70 and sunny tomorrow. That's Ohio weather for ya.

LoryKC said...

I feel your pain.
OK--my heels are fine but I, too, am in the midwest and have children that are, well, yes...ape-shit...that's a perfect term for the behavior today!

As for the real pain--and real issue along with it--switch therapists. I have no experience here but it can't hurt.

OTRgirl said...

If you see him again, as you're walking by with your new female therapist, you could say, "Sorry, I'm more comfortable with a woman." The question is whether you want to educate him? Which would require pulling him aside to let him know that you were uncomfortable with the quantity and quality of touch during your session. I tend to assume that if people just knew how their behavior was affecting someone else they might change. Niave, I know!

In Cincy, 'if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes'. But it can be a LONG 5 minutes with cabin-fevered kids.

Homestead said...

Candace said, "The groin thing did it for me!" and the 12-year-old boy in me can't stop laughing.

How do you feel about witch doctors? (Accupuncture, Deep Tissue Massage, Chiropractic) I've had everything on this green earth wrong with my foot and ankle (3 surgeries, years-literally-on crutches, stress fractures, bone spurs, cortizone injections... the list goes on.....) and the thing that helped me THE MOST was accupuncture. Crazy, I know.

As far as the therapist.... SWITCH NOW. Even if he isn't a creep gettin' off having your wigglies in his privates you are still uncomfortable and that will make recovery slower.

Kristen said...

Misfit, I'm late to this post, but I took this self defense class in college. I don't remember any of the actual MOVES (which would probably help), but I remember vividly the instructor pounding into our brains that when we feel uncomfortable in a situation like that, THERE'S A REASON. Maybe he's just an idiot who doesn't know how to properly communicate what he's doing to his patients...but maybe he's a creep. I wouldn't take the chance - I would definitely switch therapists. You shouldn't have to feel uncomfortable OR guilty about moving to someone else.

Anonymous said...

I don't have any incredibly helpful advice, but if you feel uncomfortable with this therapist, I would change before the next session. If nothing else, you are probably not going to be able to relax and benefit from the sessions if this guy creeps you out.

Anonymous said...

All good advice from people, Misfit. Just change therapists and be done with it. PT is a pain in the ass and you need to be with someone with whom you feel totally comfortable. Sorry to hear about the Plantars. One of my best friend has the same problem from playing basketball. Have you thought about surgery as an option? Although the recovery sucks, it's often better than having the same recurring problem over the years and having to undergo oPT multiple times.

Hope you feel better!