pain

[essel]

i am 74 years of age, i fractured one of my pelvic bones 2 months back. i took rest, then 3 weels of physiotherapy, but i am having severe pain in my bottom and also the hip region is feeling sore. it is painful to get up after sitting for a while. i am fed up of taking physiotherapy please advice.

[Tuckamore]

Hi Essel,

I am so sorry to hear about your continued pain. Jaybay is correct. PT is often more painful than the injury. It is a lot of hard work but it will pay off. It is imperative that you build your strength again. If you give in to the pain and stop PT your muscles can atrophy and your pain will may very well not improve.

My father is a bit older than you. He recently suffered a fracture. He was told that due to his age it will take 3 to 6 months to completely heal. So I venture to guess you have some time ahead of you. It is not only the fracture that must heal it is the supporting structures such as ligaments, muscles and tendons. Your body has experienced a traumatic event. Traumatic Arthritis can sit is and the more active you are the better prognosis you have in terms of recovery and pain levels.

If you physician has not prescribed you a pain medication or if the one he prescribed for you is not sufficient in controlling you pain please discuss this with him. Don't be concerned with taking a narcotic, you need to make it through rehab at this point. You may need a stool softener with the narcotic as they can cause constipation. And possibly a muscle relaxer after your PT sessions will be helpful too.

My neighbor and friend fractured his pelvis at 28. He had great bone strength and youth on his side but he still had a long road to recovery. Don't be discouraged. If you follow your physicians orders you should be feeling better soon. We are here to support you in anyway we can.

Please let us know how you are doing. I will look forward to your updates. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them. Take care, Tuck

[Jaybay]

Unfortunately, you have one of the most painful injuries that a person can have to deal with.  Bones tend to keep hurting for a very long time - even after x-rays show the fracture has healed.  I know the PT hurts something awful, but it's a necessary evil with these kinds of injuries.  Can you speak with your doctor about some kind of pain medication that might help make it easier for you?  The more you can build up your muscles, the more they can take the pressure of movement off your bones, and thus the pain is reduced. The worst thing you can do is stop the exercises and sit around waiting for the pain to go away.  That will result in even more muscle loss, and you may end up permanently disabled.  

What kind of treatment and exercises does your therapist have you doing?  Have you mentioned the increase in pain to the therapist?  You may just need to take a short break from therapy and then try it again.  In my experience with orthopedic injuries and surgeries, the pain of rehab is 100 times worse than the original injury and surgery.  I had to learn the hard way that "cheating" on the PT is out of the question.