Quick question

[bookishwench]

My mother has been in physical therapy for the better part of three weeks now due to a neck injury she sustained in November (basically, she overdid it raking leaves, and one doctor referred to it as a sprained neck). Prior to that she went to a chiropractor. She stopped going to said chiropractor because the adjustments were both really painful and making her nauseous.

However, the physical therapy she's in sounds a heck of a lot like boot camp. The woman is 71, though admittedly a pretty fit 71, and they have her hoisting 25 pounds+ with her neck muscles for fifteen minutes on end(and they are continuing to increase this by two pounds every time she shows up), riding a stationary bike at break-neck speeds (the kind that moves arms and legs together) until she practically drops, and her "neural-muscular therapy," which seems to be some variety of highly painful massage, nearly put her in the hospital on Wednesday from massive headache and elevated blood pressure (they only check her blood pressure before she starts, never during the exercises). She scared me to death when she came home that day because she looked like she was going to pass out. She is literally at this place for two hours straight three days a week working out to the point of near physical exhaustion, and they just keep pushing her harder. She comes home in pain, and she just barely starts to feel better when she has to go back again and winds up in pain all over again.

She cancelled her appointment for Thursday morning because she just couldn't handle it. She'd almost gone into a panic attack the previous night. Since not going and instead actually resting, she's feeling much better.

So, question. Anyone here ever been in physical therapy? Is that level of pain normal? Or are they treating my mother like a guinea pig and taking bets just how fast she'll run on the wheel before she passes out, because I'm seriously starting to suspect it's the last one.

Comments

[bookishwench.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's pushing, but I think the problem is these people don't realize that when they tell her to do something, she'll all but kill herself to do it rather than stop. That's how she got hurt in the first place. And thank you!