Karyn session 4-12

I am very guilty for not being able to record Karyn's progress promptly. So here is what happened in the past 1.5 month.


Since Karyn has completed her study she managed to squeeze out more time to do Pilates twice weekly amidst her super hectic child-caring schedule.


Though her pain was initially relieved by few pilates sessions, her baby boy is growing fast and is making it even more stressful on Karyn's back whenever she carries him. Thus the pain on her left lumbar area originating from her herniated disc continued to come and go over the weeks, and severity varies depending on how much she carries him.


One day she called me to complain about numbness on the lateral side of her right knee, I suspected it might be due to her twice weekly jog or due to her aggravated disc condition, but on the safe side I asked her to consult a doctor.


She consulted a private orthopaedic doctor and, based on verbal description of her symptoms, he concluded (without any physical/ manual/ functional check-up) that Karyn was suffering from ITB symdrome. So she was told to do some ITB stretch and given anti-inflammation cream. To my surprise, she was also told that she could continue her jogging as per normal. Both me and Karyn felt that this particular doctor was not very helpful as he did not really investigate the real cause of the problem, he just wanted to get his patient out of his office asap. With the recommended stretch and medicated cream, the numbness at Karyn's knee did not really go away.


Then she developed numbness at her right toes. She thought it was due to her new running shoes. But I was skeptical and urged her to consult another doctor instead.


An orthopaedic surgeon from Tan Tock Seng Hospital who specialises in spine finally confirmed what I suspected. The numbness at her knee and toes were actually symptoms refered from her herniated disc. He advised against surgery as the herniation is still very much preliminary, and he also discouraged the use of pain killer or analgesic cream as they only masked the symptoms. He ordered Karyn to continue with Pilates as main treatment as it can help correct mechanical problem in the spine. He also advised her to swim regularly.


With few Pilates sessions focusing on core control, lumbar stabilisation and spinal extension, the numbness dissipated gradually. Karyn was all excited and got herself into the pool soon after the consultation. She swam so hard and long that after her swim her back pain turned from bad to worse! Karyn was totally puzzled as swimming was "supposedly" good for back pain but yet it made hers worst instead.

Moral of the story? always get 2nd medical opinion if you feel that the doctor was not detailed or proficient enough to help alleviate your problem. And be easy on your body if you have not done certain exercise for a long time. For Karyn she probably overstrained from the swim as she had not swim for years! Too much good thing is not neccessarily good and moderation is the key :)