How it all finally came together

Hi everyone–

You may have seen that I’ve listed all of my key discoveries and breakthrough moments in chronological order in my “Key Points of My Recovery” series. It took me five years to put all of these pieces together, through a long and frustrating process of trial and error, and I talk about that process in these posts.

In this post, however, I was curious to see what it would look like if instead of in chronological order, I explained my recovery in terms of specific concepts. I figured this might give you another way to look at it, and take from it what you will.

So here are the main points of my recovery organized by concept. I’ve linked to some of my most relevant posts for each point.

Developing muscle strength:

Along with a thorough stretching routine:

Finally finding a knowledgeable PT who was able to think flexibly:

My physical therapist Paula, who the fourth physical therapist I saw over the course of this problem, was able to think flexibly and come up with alternate ways for me to exercise, instead of insisting I do things one way. (Same for stretches). Having an open-minded and knowledgeable PT made all the difference.

Pool exercise was a big component:

Was patient; paid attention. Knew it wasn’t mind over matter; had to do research and be intellectual. Couldn’t “push through” or try to use brute force; had to be mindful and modify the things I did.

Using the Muscle Energy Technique to adjust my own SI joints, so I didn’t need to keep running back to the chiropractor so often.

Eventually realized my frequent chiropractor visits were making things worse and stopped having my SI joints adjusted.