I am dipping my toe back in PT again. Partly because I want to make sure I don't lose money on my FSA, as things broke down differently than I expected (it's a good problem to have: with a little leg work to find an in-network lab, I was charged $0 instead of $750 for my twice-yearly bloodwork. Quick aside: Omg, for real, charge me an arm and a leg because while I got the bloodwork done at an in-network clinic, they mailed the labs out to an out of network clinic. I should NOT have to know whether blood is tested in-house or not when I get a blood draw! Who would even think of that before they got bit??).
Finally got tired of the inner hip thing that has been going on (to varying degrees) for well over a year now. I found an in-network PT office that also happens to be about 3 miles from my house - score! Apparently my issue is not so unusual, and there are a number of exercises I can do, as well as the more general lifestyle instruction of getting back on my heels more (I'm always on my toes or standing on one leg, which pushes my hip forward). Glute bridges and several exercises involving those big rubber bands. I'm cautiously hopeful. I really like this PT so far - after she figured out what was going on, she pulled out an anatomy book to show me, and she also volunteered to work with my trainer if there were any questions about how tom modify my workouts.
With my current strength levels, the PT quickly realized that I wasn't going to get much out of bodyweight glute bridges - my trainer is going to show me how to add weight with a barbell next session. I've seen people doing those. He assured me I'd be astounded at how much weight I could do this way, and that glute bridges are great because they're a PT exercise that you can never outgrow - just keep adding weight. I'll be doing them in sets of 20, though, therapy-style.
My trainer was also excited about the exercises involving rubber bands. He said he's seen these exercises before, but would never assign them because he doesn't have training in how to teach them and apply them properly. So he wants to see how they work out for me. They involve attaching a rubber band at floor level, then looping it around my bent leg while I'm on the floor.
In other news, my elbow thing has been getting better but never going away. Coincidentally, there's a chiro / multi-modal person at my gym who put up a sign about a special deal she was running on elbow and forearm issues. So I saw her for the first time yesterday. Her eval is cheaper than my PT co-pay, and her follow up sessions are cheaper than that. It seems that my elbow issues are also pretty standard fare. She beat the crap out of my forearms with massage and then a rock blade (which seems identical to getting Graston) and taped me up real good with Rock Tape. Which is a good thing, because the bruising and redness that you can see peeking out of the sides of the tape is pretty extreme - when that stuff comes off, I'm going to look like someone actually beat me.
I'm still stuck with a program of accessories and isolations. I tried to tell my trainer that deadlifts didn't hurt anything, but he wasn't interested. Also that circuits are boring and that I can't work out with my boyfriend when I need all the equipment for the circuit - still not interested. (You should see me setting up for 10 different exercises in a home gym.) I miss my big compound movements =/ It's really hard to motivate for this other stuff. I'm not sure why, because there is nothing easy about box steps or Bulgarians or any of the other things I'm doing.