My Trip to Carter Physiotherapy: Part I

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been having all kinds of issues with my back. Namely, my mid-to-low back on both sides of my spine has been basically made sore by a repetitive stress injury, one that was caused by lifting the infant carrier in and out of the car on a regular basis, as well as tossing around four kids each day. Luckily, I finally reached out to get some help, and found myself in the extremely competent and professional hands of Dr. Jarod Carter with Carter Physiotherapy.

One of my first concerns when scheduling my appointment was regarding pain. Anyone who has ever known someone who has gone to either physical therapy or a chiropractor with the hope of easing pain in their back has heard horror stories about the potential for pain involved, and so I went into my appointment with this in mind, worried that he'd have to crack or pull something that would - at least momentarily - make my pain worse. Thankfully, this did not end up being the case. Here is what he did instead:

My appointment began with an explanation of what I was feeling, as well as a thorough evaluation of my bone structure, amongst other things I have a minimal understanding of, despite his attempts to explain the process to me :) He had me stand on one foot on one side and then the other, and discovered that one of my hips, either due to leg length or postures and habits, was slightly off balance and higher than the other. Not coincidentally, that just so happened to be the side that my pain was occurring on! Because of this, and with Dr. Carter maintaining the utmost respect and understanding that moms are busy ladies, he gave me some exercises to do at home to help. The best part? The two particular exercises/stretches that he sent me home to practice take just minutes a day, and have already seemed to offset my pain!

After the evaluation, it was time for the hands-on portion of the hour-long appointment. I laid down on what could only be described as a massage table, all the while dressed in my yoga pants and tank top, while Dr. Carter checked my range of motion in my joints. He explained that sometimes pain that is felt in one place can be caused by dysfunction in another, less obvious place, so he did a thorough exam for that purpose, to see what exactly was going wrong. Between the imbalance in my hips and the repetitive motion straining my back, he was able to target his treatment to those areas for amazing results in just one hour!

Dr. Carter varies from your run-of-the-mill physical therapist in that he is well-schooled in Manual Therapy methods, which, rather than requiring gym equipment, manipulates the problem areas manually. While there were a couple of times that I felt discomfort, nothing that he did was downright painful, and I felt relief by the end of our visit! Between that and the exercises I've been doing at home, I have not had pain in my back since my appointment!

For anyone, mothers of young children or otherwise, who are experiencing muscle pain or other athletic type injuries, I would highly recommend you hightail it over to see Dr. Carter, especially if you're short on time and want to see immediate results! I'm so happy I did!