".....Also
>recommended that I start physical therapy to help with the adhesions. He
>doesn't seem to think the pain I am having are from adhesions but from
>my week abdominal wall. So the physical therapy is to strenghten my
>abdominal wall and help me to move since it hurts to stretch upwards.
>The physical therapist is also doing Ultra Sound on my abdominal area
>where I am having all the pain. I have been for 8 visits and so far
>this physical therapy has not helped at all. Has anyone else tried this
>treatment for adhesions? If so, has it helped?....."
>
>--
>Leanne
Leanne,
I have been to 2 physical therapists after a urogynecologist at Mayo, who spent a couple of very 'rushed' minutes with me, decided I had Pelvic Floor Tension Myalgia, and he said I should try physical therapists I found on my own. I also saw a gastro at Mayo who decided I had non-relaxing puborectalis muscles after an anal manometry and defecography test. He wanted me to go through their 2-week intensive physical therapy focusing on biofeedback to supposedly re-train me for pelvic floor dysfunction, but my insurance would not cover anything coded as biofeedback and it would have cost me between $6,000.00 $7,000.00 so I couldn't do it.
Neither of these doctors spent much time with me- either to listen or order much in the way of testing, despite the impression one gets from their website about all the various testing they have available. Neither one bothered to examine my abdomen- which has felt like a chunk of solid, inflexible metal for the past 25 years after an injury that I now wonder could have actually been a burst ovarian cyst, which pretty much acted like a glue-factory throughout my whole midsection from near the lungs down to the vaginal area. I have had a few surgeries to remove fibroids, the uterus and an adrenal gland, but feel that they missed the possibility of adhesions and didn't really 'look' while they were in there. A 'small' area of adhesions were mentioned in my medical report from my right adrenal surgery in 2006, but nothing was mentioned about treating them.
Anyway, both of the physical therapists immediately noticed how incredibly tight my abdomen was and were pretty sure I had adhesions. The first physical therapist told me to put a hot water bottle on my abdomen, then massage it, and also do deep breathing and then exhale completely while trying to pull my abdomen in- which as I said is so tough- and I can barely move it. The second physical therapist recommended deep breathing and completely exhaling, which I tried to do so much I began getting dizzy. She also gave me postural exercises to do. I noticed no improvement whatsoever- and she got a bit of an attitude when things didn't loosen up so I pretty much gave up on physical therapy for now.
I have looked at the Clear Passages website- one location, in Iowa, is about 400 miles away- but the cost given is over $5,000.00 and my insurance likely would not cover it- or not much of it.I checked my insurance policy- if I had it in my state, they cover about $4,500.00 of physical therapy a year, but in Iowa, they only cover about $1,400.00- and that is IF I could get coverage for it at all.Then there would be lodging expenses for 5 -6 days.
Otherwise, for 'normal' physical therapy, I only pay $15.00 per visit and am allowed 75 visits a year, but really have had no luck finding a PT who has much to offer for adhesions. I've searched the APTA site (to find a physical therapist) with no real results.
I have also read posts here and on other sites about people who have tried body-rolling for adhesions. You get one of those balls and over a 15-minute period lay on it. You apparently begin laying on top of it with your pubic bone, then over a few minutes' time slowly work over to the right side, and then back to the middle and repeat to the left side- as if outlining a 'V' shape. I might buy a ball and try it myself- although one poster on here said it was too painful when she first tried it so not sure if it is for everyone.
Joan
>