A Shocking Experience

Today I hit up the physical therapist to get a little treatment on my hip. I went for a consultation a few weeks ago and the therapist told me to work on some shoe inserts and if I still had some pain (which is all muscular) to come see her with a script from my Dr. so she could do some "electric stim." Basically, it's an opportunity to get a serious massage covered by insurance. Also, basically, I had no idea what i was getting myself into so I got a script yesterday and made an appointment.

After some massage of my glute and hip area by the therapist, she did some ultra sound to the hip region. It was messy because she put that jelly on my hip and just rubbed what looked like a video game controller over my sore area. It didn't really feel like anything but the therapist said it would break up some of the sore tissue. Ok, I'll try anything that seems legitimate. I think I remember my sister telling me she received ultra sound for her knee therapy. Well, now comes the "electric stim," part.

The therapist pulls out this pack of square stickers and placed four of them on my glute and my hip. She then rolled over this machine that looked like it came right out of a 1980's Sci-Fi movie; all knobs and a meter reading. It was beige. Next was the attachment of cords to each sticker that looked like tiny jumper cables. Pictures of ET flashed before and I wanted to rip the stickers off just like the hero Elliot did. But, I didn't move. The therapist then said, "ok, I'm going to turn this on and you tell me when to stop...you'll know because it will be right before it really hurts." Before I had a chance to ask a question, she turned the knob and I felt a small electric shock in four places. Of course, i didn't want to seem like a wimp so I waited until the pulse was almost too much to take. She then placed a large pillow sized ice pack over my entire hip area.

After a minute or so, the sensation died down a little bit and I kind of settled in. All of the sudden another patient came over and started talking to me about his broken back and his therapy. Here I was, getting my One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest therapy, and this guy was telling me his story of his life. I wanted to say, "look buddy, I'm doing all I can from running out of this crazy house, so could please close the drape around my table and move away." But, I smiled and listened while my hip was vibrating in crazy places.

After 10 minutes, the therapy was done, I stood up, and.....I, Felt, Awesome! About 50% better. I made another appointment for Wednesday and look forward to my next shock therapy.