Back to Natalie's Back

This is Patrick guest posting for Melanie again. Natalie's back has still been bothering her, it is now over 2 months. Last week I took her back to the sports medicine doctor and then to have an MRI on her back. The good news is that the damage is all to her muscles, there is no damage to her spine or to any of the discs in her back. The bad news is that it is going to take a while before that damage is repaired. The doctor ordered physical therapy twice a week for 6-7 weeks and will want to see her again next week. The doctor also warned me that sometimes this type of pain might require some additional medication.

Yesterday Natalie had her first visit to the physical therapist. After a lengthy discussion and examination of her movement the therapist "realigned" her hips and did a number of exercises with Natalie to help strengthen her core and, ideally, help her muscles recover. I think she was a bit shy and timid at the therapists, but I believe she will warm up to it. If nothing else it does give her some physical activity which she has been craving. She isn't thrilled about having daily "boring" exercises, but if it gets her swimming sooner, she will do them.

The long break from swimming clearly has her feeling down. She got to spend a lot of time with one of her best friends this past weekend and I think that helped cheer her up a bit. We are concerned by her mental state, the long break from being physically active is really wearing her down. We try to keep her focused on getting better and remind her that she has plenty of time to get back into swimming. She is still an active girl though. During a special field trip last Friday she spent time playing laser tag- "I didn't run Papa, I just stood still and shot at people." I keep reminding her to be careful and "stay smart" but it is very difficult for her to restrain herself sometimes. We will see what a few more trips to the physical therapist does for her.