“The program was awesome! It works! This was my first time I have had physical therapy for the headaches. IT WORKS!”
– Carol Hesketh
CAROL HESKETH
Being a substitute teacher for 4th and 5th grade students can be a tough job, but try to help children on a daily basis with throbbing headaches that get progressively worse as the day goes on. Carol Hesketh suffered from headaches; headaches that would last all day long at extreme intensities, sometimes for days at a time.
Carol had been suffering from headaches for about three years, getting headaches two to three times a week. “It was tough getting through the day with the constant throbbing,” said Carol. Having headaches all the time made it difficult for Carol to enjoy her hobbies. Shopping, camping and spending time with family, took more effort and definitely wasn’t pleasant with a constant headache.
Carol tried many unsuccessful options to help relieve her headache pain, one of which was medication. With such intense headaches, Carol found herself taking extremely strong doses of medications to help relieve her pain, but her body wasn’t responding to the medication and nothing seemed to help. “I’ve been taking pain medication on and off for years!” said Carol. “I stopped getting prescriptions because nothing seemed to work.”
With such excruciating pain, Carol’s referring physician, Dr. Barbara Connelly, decided to take a different route and referred Carol for physical therapy. Carol had never tried physical therapy before and didn’t even know what physical therapy could offer her, but was willing to try anything to help her pain. “I didn’t know what to expect when Dr. Connelly presented the option to me,” said Carol. “I was just happy something was going to be done besides taking medication.”
Carol was referred to Coury & Buehler Physical Therapy for her headache pain and had her initial evaluation with Anaheim Clinical Director, Brian Blanco, PT, DPT, OCS. During her initial evaluation Brian noticed that Carol was tight in the upper part of her neck, shoulders, and upper back. He also discovered that Carol had bad posture, which also could contribute to her pain. Since Carol had never been to physical therapy and she didn’t know how we could help her, Brian reassured her and eased every concern. “I explained everything that we would do (joint mobilizations, stretches, postural changes, etc.),” said Brian. “I also reassured her that everything we discovered in the initial evaluation were all things we could work on here in therapy.”
During the course of her treatments with Brian, Carol performed exercises to help strengthen and stretch her neck and back. Carol began therapy in February 2012 and it only took a couple of weeks for Carol to notice that her headaches were farther apart and didn’t last as long. Now, Carol has only had two small headaches in the past three months when before she was having them daily. “I’m so happy!” exclaimed Carol.
“The program was awesome! It works,” said Carol, “This was my first time I have had physical therapy for the headaches. IT WORKS!”
Today, Carol is much more comfortable going about her day because she is PAIN FREE! “I don’t feel as tense. My shoulders don’t feel tight like before, I feel AWESOME!”
We are so happy to have helped you get back to living life PAIN FREE! We wish you the best Carol!
