Seeking Medical Advice...

I had a great time this past Labor Day weekend with my two girls, Josie and Emilee, and my nieces, Bella and Sofie, at Seven Presidents’ State Beach. Great place, I highly recommend it to families! I showed our four girls how to ride the waves on the boogie board. It must have been more than a few dozen times over the course of the day that I performed a sustained hunched over posture, as I held the board for the girls until the right wave came our way. The girls had the time of their lives and caught their fair share of waves….and some major sand-in-the-mouth wipe-outs!

Later that night as we drove home in some traffic, my back started to hurt…a little (oh, yes, PTs are human and subject to injury, contrary to misguided belief). Like all omniscient and hippocritically- preachy master clinicians, I ignored my pain, claimed it would get better (to myself, of course), and went to bed in confidence. The next day, the pain was moderately improved (as I expected), so I went tot a nearby field and practiced swinging my golf club for an upcoming Chamber of Commerce event…a few dozen times, which somehow made my back even worse- right down the lower lumbar region (L4-L5, L5-S1 to be technical). In fact, my back pain progressively worsened to the point where standing or sitting stationary for more than 20-30 minutes produced quite a bit of discomfort.

Sound familiar?

There’s a time to accept acute pain and let it takes it course using relative relative rest and over-the-counter meds…and a time to address pain before it becomes something far uglier and unanticipated. So, when should one contact a medical professional?

Generally speaking, it’s best to contact a professional immediately when you can identify your symptoms with any of the following:

· Unremitting pain (especially at night)

· Night sweats

· Loss of strength

· Numbness/tingling

· Discoloration (redness or blueness) of any kind

· Warmth around a joint region

As I mentioned, bringing up these symptoms to your physician or physical therapist may prevent more serious problems from occurring. Isn’t that better than dealing with the alternative?

And, thankfully, I had none of the above, so with some ice and relative rest, my symptoms have been improving! Back to work it is!

Jerry

Dr. Jerry Yoo
Clinical Director/Co-Owner of Maven Sports Medicine