1. Dear Lucy,
I wanted to thank you for all you’ve done for me and to
me. You have truly changed my life. After the disastrous
hip replacement (leg lengthened, moved to the side and
back and toes turned in) I endured; I spent 18 months
trying to learn to walk with a 60 plus year old body
that was totally off balance. I fell a lot. I learned to
“walk walls” so I had something to fall into when I fell.
I had to inch down and up anything that was inclined
and hold onto hand rails when using stairs. Curbs were
a nightmare. I had more than one stranger help me up
and really frightened my grandchildren by falling. My
grandson once ran into me to give me a hug and I fell.
He was crushed even though I tried to tell him it wasn’t
his fault. In addition, I hurt constantly and lived on
Aleve. Regular physical therapy from three different
clinics did nothing to help me.
About two years after the surgery, I remember my
husband telling me a co-worker had come to you after
a messed up knee replacement and that the co-worker
was no longer limping or in pain and was raving about
how great you were. I was so frustrated and tired and
in pain that I didn’t want to try any more therapists.
I’ll admit I finally came in just to shut him up. I had no
hope left. I’d gone from a practicing black belt to a
“crippled old lady” in one day due to the surgery.
You had me do some really different things. Blowing up
balloons? What’s with that? Well, in about three weeks
it didn’t hurt to breathe any more. I’d been holding
myself so stiffly, I wasn’t breathing. Laying on my back
and lifting my hips? Using walking sticks like I was
climbing a hill as I walked? What was this? Reaching up
and out with my arms and stepping up and down with
my toes held in, or out, or straight? This was nothing
like I’d done before. It wasn’t really hard.
Within a month, I was walking again. I got away from
the walls. Within two months, I could walk the almost
mile around my block and I have HILLS. I was no longer
falling. A miracle.
However, you then really surprised me. I remember
vividly walking in one day and you stood there with a
co-worker and watched me walk. “She’s hurting,” you
said. “She’s hurting,” he said and you were right. Well,
of course I was. My leg was longer than before the
surgery. It was stretched out to the side over an inch.
My toes on one leg only were turned in. Muscles had
been stretched to the limit.
“Let’s fix that.” Fix the pain. Really? Over the next
month you did fascial release. You put your wonderful
hands on me and got rid of all the knots in the muscles.
You got rid of the scar tissue binding up the incision
site. Did it hurt? Oh yeah. But every time I got up off
your massage table, I walked better that I had when I
came in the door. I hurt less and less. So I breathed
through it and my life changed.
I just wish I’d listened to my husband sooner or found
you first after the surgery. I had given up all hope of
resuming any kind of normal life. I had given up all
hope of a pain free life. You gave me that pain free life
and helped me adjust to the changes made by a poor
surgeon. I no longer limp. I no longer fall down. I can
walk up or down a hill and step up on a curb without
being terrified I’ll fall. My muscles don’t cramp and
burn. Aleve is for headaches, not for burning, cramping
muscles.
I still come to see you. You’ve helped me when I get “out
of whack”. You tell me try something and I’ve learned
to listen. No matter how “different” your methods are
from tradition physical therapy, they work. Thank you
for helping when no one else could.
DeborahMagish