My name is Becca, and I work for SOL Physical Therapy. I’m not a physical therapist, and even though I work for SOL, I’ve never received physical therapy before.
Since 2009, I’ve been silently suffering from chronic pain.
My pain started in Grad School. I spent hours typing to pump out paper after paper after paper. Sometimes the papers were two pages, but just as often, they were 60.
I remember the day I realized something was wrong.
I was in my Smart Car driving on a windy country road in rural Pennsylvania on a beautiful summer day. My windows were down, the wind was blowing through my hair, and I was stoked about being out of the city.
Then, I took my car around a particularly curvy turn. As I gripped the steering wheel, my hand felt weak and pain shot up my arm. I made it through the turn okay, but my arm was never the same. In fact, the pain has only gotten worse, and has spread to my shoulder and neck.
Before that moment, I was blissfully unaware of the left side of my body. Now, I am always aware of its presence — sometimes painfully aware.
I’m aware during my weekly softball games, when around the 7th inning, it becomes difficult to close my glove. I’m aware on long bike rides when it’s hard to apply pressure to my front brakes. I’m aware when I’m swimming, and I can’t get full power out of my strokes on the left side. And I’m aware while I work. (As I type this, I can feel tension in my shoulder and neck, and weakness in my forearm and hand.)
I’ve tried to mediate the pain on my own.
Although I don’t talk about my pain very much, I’ve done a lot to try to reverse it.
I bought a split keyboard to keep my wrists straight while I type. I bought a standing desk for my home office, and requested standing desks at work. I researched and practiced stretches, and got massage therapy, but the benefits were always fleeting.
I started to accept that pain was going to be a part of my life.
Like a bad romantic partner, I was ready to start making excuses for it like “It’s not so bad all the time…” and “Hey, the pain let up enough for me to enjoy this camping trip!”
Then I started working for SOL.
I’ll never forget the moment where a woman who had just “graduated” from physical therapy, bounded up to the front desk, touched her toes right in front of me and said something along the lines of, “I was barely able to walk when I came in here, and now I can do this!”
That one moment planted a seed for me. Instead of just accepting my pain, and silently living with it, maybe I could kick the pain for good with some high quality physical therapy.
Let the adventure begin.
Starting in just a few days, I’m going to get Physical Therapy at SOL Physical Therapy + Performance. As I get my treatment, I’m going to take everyone along with me on my adventure!
I’m hopeful and nervous and excited all at the same time. I can’t wait to see how this goes!
