Physical therapy for hip.

So I've decided to use the Orthopod’s prescription for physical therapy. I get the unique opportunity to go to Duke’s Sports medicine center, so I figure it is worth a shot.  I met with a PT name Lori who did a lot of diagnostic stuff and tried to figure out which of the PT’s would be a good fit for me. I tried telling her the whole story with the hip for the sake of full disclosure, I was fearful of leaving something out but I think I got it all in there.  She asked about the possibility about a sports hernia, and I told her what the doctor said, that the way to figure out if it’s a sports hernia is to try everything else first. So first let’s look at the pulled groin.  She also noticed that my psoas was tight, which was a little saddening because when I hear tight psoas I equate it with torn labrum. Perhaps there is still some laberal issues, I sure hope not though.  She noticed some imbalance in strength, like I have really weak glute mediuses, and my right side is even weaker than my left.

After doing her examination, she thought some postural work, massage, and something else I can’t remember would help.  Can’t say I disagree. 

Looks like I’ll be meeting up with a guy named Mike, and so we’ll be working on strengthening any weak stabilizers I have as well as use the Graston Technique as a method of massage.  At first my research on this technique came up with some questionable results. Basically, that article in the link says that there is absolutely no scientific evidence that the technique helps with anything.  However, after looking at these youtube clips of the technique being applied to some strong dude it looks to me like it’s just a type of massage that uses steel tools instead of fingers to release the muscle and break up scar tissue.  Personally, it seems like the tools (they’re like $3k) and price to be a licensed Graston person is a complete rip off for the therapist.  But I do see it being effective, although probably not as effective as a good, patient massage therapist. Regardless, I’m not paying (very much) for it, so I figure what the heck and let them do as they will.

…I have a feeling they will not be used to someone like me.  When the therapist was setting up to do a stretch and explained what she was doing, I said “Oh yeah, I do this one all the time, learned it on the internet.” To which she responded with “You can’t do this one on your own.”  After she started working on my hip I then explained how I do it, and she said, “Oh yeah, yeah that would do the same thing.” So of course I couldn't let that go and pointed out that I was right, to which she conceded that she was wrong.  I know that going into these things I’m a “layman” in the fact that I don’t have a degree, and I know that there is a lot that I don’t know, but all these doctors and therapists seem to treat me like I don’t know anything, and that is completely wrong.  It should be interesting to see what happens with Mike, and I will try not to rub him the wrong way. I mean, I don’t want to tell him how to do his job, but I do want to be respected as someone who has taken a lot of time and effort learning about the human body.