This morning, I attended an assessment with a new physical therapist for my left arm injury. He confirmed tendinopathy (lateral enthesopathy aka tennis elbow), ruled out a neck origin of the pain, and prescribed 8 weeks of PT for three days a week, in hour-long sessions.
He also told me to ice the injury three times a day, and perform certain eccentric (versus concentric) exercises three to five times a day. He printed out some exercises, gave me instructions to use their app, and performed an ASTYM massage to my forearm and elbow.
The office gave me a schedule—my first official session starts tomorrow and ends on June 17. The goal of therapy is to get me back to my regular activities, including writing, without pain. The therapist explained how we're going to work realigning the tendon fibers into their proper direction.
Most of my appointments are scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays before my YMCA training. On the one hand, I'm frustrated to have such busy days that take me away from writing work, but I know from my experiences with my knees that I've got to do everything I can to avoid the progression of disease.
I'm also excited to see how these PT sessions help my overall mobility goals. This happens to be a new clinic for me, and it's much closer than any that I've tried in the past. So far, everyone there seems great. No one was rude or unkind about my size. They weren't dismissive about my pain. Also, the therapist said he can give me the information of a local lymphedema therapist. All good things.
Finally, I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one, but it looks like my insurance will cover 100% of my PT sessions for my elbow. That's what the front office told me today. I RARELY get happy news about my insurance, so that's something to celebrate!
Sounds like attitudes around you are changing. So happy to hear this. Keep on advocating for yourself and insisting on the treatment you deserve.