No Pain No Gain?

I have my second physical therapy appointment this afternoon. Last week, after months and months of aches, pains, numbness, I was finally diagnosed, via MRI, with a herniated disc between my c6 and c7 vertebrae. My doctor is highly confident that PT will take care of the issue--and it better because I read that surgery is difficult and only has a 16% success rate.

I don't like those rates.

I had my first PT last week and quickly realized that it's not going to be easy. There are spots on my neck and back that don't like to be touched, never mind pushed, shoved, stretched, manipulated. And though my therapist warned me that I'd be sore the next day, he didn't say I'd be sore everyday since.

I'm not sure how this rupture happened or even when--and the funny part is that I never had neck pain at the herniation site (I had pain above it, where the muscles at the base of my skull were overcompensating). All the pain as a result of the herniation was located in my hands and arms. After two fruitless trips to the rheumatologist (who told me there was nothing wrong with me), I almost gave up. But I knew, I knew, something was wrong, and thankfully my primary care doc listened.

The moral of this story, I guess, is to trust yourself. No one knows you better than you know yourself. And that counts more than any M.D. after a name.

So, this afternoon, I go back to PT. I'm hoping that with the homework I've been doing that I'll be less sore after today's session... At least I get the heat pack on my neck for 15 minutes after the hard part. That makes up for a lot. :)