Refusing to Quit
A Runner’s Drive to Persist Through Adversity
Hillary Davis is an avid runner, hiker, and overall outdoor sports enthusiast. She had been dealing with pain in her left hip for over a year. “It started out as gradual and intermittent, and over the course of several months it became increasingly difficult to ignore the pain. Not only was I in pain after my runs, I couldn’t sit for more than an hour or so, making it problematic to do my job” recalled Hillary.
She initially received chiropractic treatment for a few months, and then subsequently physical therapy. After “hitting a wall,” and her symptoms beginning to worsen, her doctor recommended imaging and seeing a sports medicine doctor. The recommendation was to stop all physical activity for 6 months.
After a month of rest without relief from pain, even just when sitting, she decided it was not effective and she needed to pursue another approach. Someone suggested to her that just because one practitioner could not help does not mean another one can’t.
In researching our practice online, she reviewed the therapists and their back grounds. She felt that Marsha Wykes, PT might be a good match for her. Marsha has additional certifications of OCS, 
(Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist) and MDT (Mechanical Diagnosis and Treatment of the Spine) which Hillary thought may be of benefit to her complex issue.
Hillary was a challenging case. As treatment progressed, and some aspects improved, treatment modifications were made to get at the deeper, underlying components of her condition. It required persistence on both the part of Hillary, and on the part of Marsha as her PT.
“When Marsha could see the frustration on my face, she would calmly tell me ‘this is like peeling away the layers of an onion.’ She was so right…we would get one area of my hip feeling better to reveal that another area hurt, and then it progressed into my back. We then started dry needling which really helped jump start my recovery.”
