The Day the Physiotherapist Cured My Headache

Okay, well, maybe not cured, but sure as heck made a difference.

So this is my first week in the pain clinic program, and yesterday I had a bit of physiotherapy before the end of my scheduled time there. I was still fighting the barometric pressure headache left over from the day before, so that was what she wanted to talk about. She listened a bit to what I had to say about it, asked a few questions, and then said, "We need a lumbar roll." So she got one of those, and had me sit all the way back in a chair and put the lumbar roll behind me. "This is going to feel very exaggerated," she said. Darn skippy it did. "But how's the headache?" Well wouldn't you know, but putting the lumbar roll in my back made my headache less. Then she took my upper neck through a series of small movements. Each movement further reduced the pain, until the barometric pressure headache was pretty much gone, leaving only the normal pain behind.

Wow.

So they loaned me the lumbar roll for the next few days, and I'm working on stretching out those muscles a little bit with the movements she showed me. I don't have much movement, but you know what, it seems to help. She did warn me that my mid-back, shoulders, and lower neck would probably not be happy with me, and they're not, but we have to start somewhere, I guess.

One pain management strategy down. We'll see what else happens.