Confessions of an Accident-Prone Physiotherapist

Ever hear of a dentist getting a cavity? Or a lawyer getting sued? Well I am a Physiotherapist that always needs Physiotherapy!

Here’s the problem though…it is very challenging to self-diagnose yourself! I had been suffering with right-sided low back pain for around 8 years and seen countless healthcare practitioners, trying way too many treatments to name, but to no avail. I reached a point where I began to wonder if my pain was even real; which is quite frustrating and really messed with my head.

But do not despair – I eventually found this amazing Sports Medicine Doctor. She diagnosed me with (get ready for some technical terms) “right proximal hamstring calcific tendonitis”. And ultrasound imaging confirmed around a 2mm hamstring tear…YIKES!

Now I never thought to check my hamstring (and apparently neither did all the other doctors, sports medicine doctors, chiropractors, physiotherapists, osteopaths, registered massage therapists, etc.) My pain was in my right low back, so why would my hamstring be involved?

Without boring you with the biomechanics and the anatomy behind this injury, the gist of my problem was pretty much that I had zero right hamstring strength! So anytime my hamstring was supposed to be working, my low back was doing the work instead (talk about an over-achiever, am I right?!)

With all that in mind, I started thinking back to what could have caused my injury. I believe it all started after I badly sprained my right ankle during opening night of one of my many musical theatre performances. In addition I had yet to develop a proper strengthening and stretching routing for my split work, so holding the front splits and most likely straining my right hamstring.

What I remember from trying to achieve my split flexibility was focusing on stretching but not on strengthening my hamstrings. This is what inspired me to create a basic hamstring strengthening series for patients in the very early phases of hamstring rehabilitation.

Stay tuned!