Sense of Hope after IE

[Sarah Frunzi]

For the past few weeks, I have been working with a high-level CrossFit athlete that has had bilateral lateral knee pain as well as a chronic history of low back pain. While they seem like two separate issues after testing and monitoring, it is still on my radar that they could be related. However, with this patient in particular, I have kept in mind the biospsychosocial model due to the many factors that play into his care and prognosis. This patient is a single parent of three young kids, has a stressful job that can be emotional heavy as well as physically demanding (fireman), and has been limited in the gym which is his main source of stress relief. During this evaluation, I was both excited and nervous. I could sense that this patient has been losing hope in returning back to the sport he loves and is drained from having pain with majority of the things he has to do within his day whether it be picking up his kids, job duties, or CrossFit movements in a workout. I have such an appreciation for the line of work that he does and love working with tactical athletes (my excitement), but also felt nervous because of his extensive background in CrossFit. I was nervous because I didn’t want to let this patient down. Though I am a CrossFit Level-1 trainer, the brief thought of inadequacy crossed my mind and felt intimidated. I didn’t let this show to the patient, and actively worked on demonstrating confidence to this patient. This is the exact patient I want to help get back to his work safely and back to the gym. The evaluation overall went well and was able to provide a technique that immediately provided some pain relief. I can still better fine tune my ability to give more specific follow up treatment techniques as well as be more specific in my objective exams, but this is an area I am actively working on. The past few follow up visits have been even better where we have made great improvements in his bilateral knee pain with some of the activities he hasn’t been able to perform in months. I have also been incorporating small doses of pain science and reframing his view on pain with some movements and activities he was fearful of prior, and I believe this is starting to help with his overall perception of his pain. He has had a positive experience with physical therapy before, but this time he was seeking guidance for activity in addition to pain relief. At his last visit, the phrase, “that is the best squats have felt in months” and the excitement in his face that followed made my heart so happy and is the reason why I am in this field. I hope to have more patients like him in the future.

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