11.30.16 Opening the Joint

I didn’t have tape on my knee because Dr. Frush had taken it off to give me my cortisone shot. I worked with Brad and told him all about my appointment with Dr. Frush, what he said, and about  my cortisone shot.  I explained how concerned I was that he said, “Yet” and that the cortisone shot was NOT the “numb-all” that I had expected.  My knee still hurt and it frustrated me!

Brad listened as he worked my knee a bit and then he pulled my foot to straighten my leg out.  I asked him if this was “manual traction” and he laughed, kind of nodded, and agreed.  He told me that he was, “Opening the Joint.”  As he pulled, I felt relief in my knee immediately,  It was like you don’t realize how much something hurts until it doesn’t hurt, even for just a little while.  I feel like I may have gasped when he did this.  The immediate relief was welcome because my knee has been hurting SO BADLY for SO LONG!  I didn’t want to talk about things that concerned me because him pulling my ankle felt SO GOOD!

I first told him my concern about the qualifier, “Yet” that Dr. Frush used.  Because my knee still hurt, did it mean that I might NEED surgery?!  My second concern was that the cortisone shot was not the “Numb-all” that I expected.  Dr. Frush told me that everyone reacts differently to the cortisone.  I wished that I reacted differently than I had.  My knee STILL hurts!  I almost wish I was part of the 3% of women whose face flushed temporarily as a reaction.  At least that would be SOME visible reaction.  Sadly, I felt nothing.  Not only was I disappointed that my knee STILL hurt but I wondered if surgery was in my future.

When Brad was done, he set me up with ice and stim. When my time was up, Brad came back over and told me that he wouldn’t tape me this time.  He wanted to give my skin a rest and told me that Kristen would tape me next time I was there which would be the next day.  I nodded in agreement and he re-snapped my pants.