“I can do so many things I couldn’t begin to do before I went to Body Gears.” – Jeanne Braun
Hip replacement surgery rehabilitation is typically easy enough, but Jeanne had a different experience 4 years ago. She was having terrible nerve issues after the surgery which made it very difficult to fire the appropriate hip muscles, walk without a limp, and just “live life”. These problems persisted for four years despite great attempts at solving these problems. Coming to Body Gears set her on a different path even after all that time and effort.
“She came in needing a cane to walk and had significant back and hip pain due to the compensation occurring while walking,” said Body Gears physical therapist Sarah Lindquist, PT, MPT, CFMT. “We typically see people who have had total joint replacements in the past that they’ve developed compensations for, but having the nerve problem made her case unique.”
Prior to treatment at Body Gears, Braun sought help at a specialized nerve center and then a traditional physical therapy practice but received minimal relief and still needed to use the cane, plus she couldn’t stop losing muscle tone.
“Just by luck I found Body Gears through a Pilates instructor I was going to and that was four years after my surgery,” said Braun. “To me it was a miracle because I started working with Sarah and in two months I was off the cane.”
The progression was slow but steady. Lindquist first worked on Braun’s mechanical restrictions (in the hip, sacrum, innominate, lumbar spine, ankle, and foot) that developed due to compensating for her injury while walking and moving inefficiently for years. She followed that up with a lot of manual neuromuscular reeducation, training the proper muscles to work on command, in particular during her gait pattern.
“We worked a lot on stability surrounding her hip and developing core strength in order to effectively load the gluteus medius and deep hip rotators after surgery,” said Lindquist. “She was able to start walking without the cane and hasn’t used it since!”
Braun credits Lindquist with getting her torso turned back into a more normal position and then giving her plenty of exercises to strengthen her muscles – three pages worth, many of which she still does today.
After therapy through insurance ended, Lindquist continued to see Braun every other week through Body Gears’ Self Pay Program for at least a year. Now she chooses to goes every few weeks to every few months for tune ups when she feels it’s needed.
“I accept that I won’t ever be able to do things the way I did,” said Braun, “but I recently came back from Scotland and I was hiking very steep hills. With my walking sticks I can do what I want, so I’m happy.”
Both Lindquist and Braun identify Body Gears’ holistic approach of looking at the body as interconnected pieces of a whole and not just treating the injured part is something that sets treatment there apart from other facilities. Body Gears treats the origin of a problem, not just the part that is hurting.
“For Jeanne, if we just gave her exercises, she wouldn’t have gotten better,” said Lindquist. “We used our hands to improve her mobility, then used them again to retrain specific muscles, and then gave her exercises that followed up the specific manual treatment.”
Braun finds people who know her and were accustomed to seeing her with a cane are amazed at the difference her therapy has made.
“I can do so many things I couldn’t begin to do before I went to Body Gears,” said Braun. “I would call it miraculous; very wonderful.”
If you are struggling to recover from surgery and you’re ready to get back to an active lifestyle, click here to meet Body Gears physical therapists and learn more about their areas of treatment expertise. We believe that freedom of movement is the foundation of a healthy and satisfying life. We look forward to serving you and we welcome your questions, comments and inquiries. 877-709-1090.
Consider giving the gift of health, healing and recovery to someone you love by purchasing a Body Gears Gift Pack, available here.
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