Journey To recovery after pelvic floor dysfunction and pain following old injury of Fall

Ms.Caroline was never able to associate her fall and whiplash several year ago associated with her pain and recurrent fall.

Thirty-six years ago I had a fall that misaligned my pelvis, hips, spine and neck. This misalignment caused the muscles to shorten as they worked to compensate for the change in my body. These shortened muscles received less blood flow and thus a gradual increase of pain, deterioration of joints and decreased mobility. Years of playing tennis, running, aerobics, etc., all the things that promote healthy bodies, were in fact bringing me ever closer to the day of injections and doctors telling me I would just have to live with the pain. This became my new reality. As the years passed, my family began telling me that I had to do something, that I was becoming crippled. I did everything I knew to do, mostly maintaining my exercise program and staying busy with the same things I had always done. In spite of the pain and increasing difficulty getting around, I worked through the pain and kept a cheerful, positive outlook. Finally the pain and immobility were greatly impacting my active lifestyle. The possibility of becoming crippled at some point hit me hard. It was painful to sit, painful to walk and I could not lift myself up steps without assistance.
My rheumatologist monitors my fibromyalgia. He said there is no solution to leg pain for fibromyalgia patients. A year ago, at the suggestion of my orthopedic doctor who injects my SI joints and bursa in both hips, I had prolotherapy to repair a degenerating posterior tendon in my outer left hip.  After many years of injections on a regular three month schedule, I told him that help from these injections did not last long and I was, in fact getting worse. He then sent me to Vital Energy Wellness and Rehab Center.
Hima Dalal evaluated me and said that she could help me. Each of my doctors provided excellent health care from their specialty and perspective.  However, no one related the fall all those years ago with the difficulties I was having. Hima recognized the trouble and told me the remedy would be slow and take a long time. Hydrotherapy was the prescription for the first two weeks. Then Myofascial Release Therapy was added to soften the fascia and begin to relieve pain. These therapies were used for a number of weeks before Hima began to manipulate my body to “unwind” twisted muscles, to realign and open the pelvis and to change my center line. One of my hips is higher than the other causing my standing and walking to be off balance. In turn, my ability to walk and stand is functionally decreased. My tendency when walking is to drift to the left. Hima, in changing my center line, requires my brain to learn where that center is and how to balance.  When we started this process, my pain level was around 9.  Today, my pain level ranges from 0 to 3 or 4 at the very highest. The level goes up when I have several very busy days and do not rest.
Hydrotherapy continues to be important in this process. Hima systematically adds exercises to help me stretch, learn to balance and gain strength. There is still much work to do in this area.  Later we will work on the spine and neck. Rest, I am learning, is vitally important and is in fact crucial to the healing process. Learning to rest is difficult for me as I am always over committed, but I am learning. For the first time in many years I have hope for release from pain and for regaining more normal mobility and strength.
In addition to the professionalism of each person on the staff, there is a genuine interest in each patient. The environment at Vital Energy is one of order and of peace. I am thankful for each one on this staff and for the hope they give me of becoming whole again.
-Caroline Hellams

In the fall of 2008, I injured my shoulder working in the yard. As a busy nurse practitioner and a church pianist, it was quite a stressful time for me as it interfered with every aspect of my life. When I was referred to Vital Energy for therapy, I had no idea what to expect. My previous experiences with therapy were after knee surgery and involved much pain and I was not looking forward to it but knew that it was an important part of my recovery. When Hima began my therapy, I was immediately at ease emotionally and physically. Though my pain was severe initially, she chose modalities that offered me as much relief as possible during the acute phase of my injury. I have since been able to resume my full work responsibilities and am playing piano again. She has also been an invaluable resource for me in caring for my own patients. In the practice of vascular surgery and medicine, I encounter many patients who are in need of occupational therapy, some after very lengthy illnesses. Hima and her staff have enabled the patients I have referred to them to regain strength, mobility, self-esteem, and independence. I love the quiet, calm atmosphere and the support that radiates from the staff of Vital Energy. I am blessed to have Hima as my therapist and a colleague in helping others to rehab after illnesses and surgery.
- Annonymous

“Your care towards my recovery…
Priceless!”
- I. Hunter

My doctors here in Lexington referred me to Vital Energy. The owner and head therapist's name is Hima Dalal. When I first started coming to VE as I refer to it from now on I did not know what really to expect. It didn't take long to figure it out. My pain was lessening each day from the help I was receiving.....read more
- James Byrd

I am 27 years old and live in Columbia, South Carolina. I recently received my Master’s in Public Health and am currently working for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control as a Hazardous Waste Enforcement Project Manager. It is a mouthful of a title, but basically I get to punish companies that harm the environment, so I enjoy it very much.

I am an avid cyclist that who mainly competes in Mountain Bike and Cyclocross races. After a great mountain bike season I felt I would have a wonderful 2006 cyclocross season. I trained for the winter harder than I have ever trained before. I won the first local Georgia race, but felt that I did not have the normal power that I often do. I went to the UCI (international) level races (Granougue and Wissahickon) and finished 17th and 18th and felt the same way. I thought that maybe it was just early season and I was not used to the intensity. At the same time I noticed that that my lower hip would bother me but I did not think a whole lot of it. At the next local race I had a substantial amount of hip pain and even felt that I had “no power” in my right leg. I still won but was concerned about what was going on. I had two weeks to train until the next UCI races in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I noticed that every time I trained at intensity my hip hurt and I would lose power in my leg. I was so excited about Lower Allen and went with a good attitude, despite being hurt. I started the race extremely strong, but after the prologue lap, my hip was hurting but I was so determined to ride through it. In the next lap, I started losing power in my leg and the hip pain became so severe that I was forced to pull off in the tech zone and abandon the race.

Starting around Thanksgiving 2006 I began what I’ll refer to as my “Tour de Medicine”. It started out with an MRI to check for a slipped disc (negative). I was then referred to a brilliant Doctor at UVA thinking I had a condition where the inguinal ligament presses against the femoral artery. I went through a series of tests one of which included running catheters into my groin and into my arteries (I was very much awake for this, and let me tell you it was not fun). In the end, Dr. Cherry felt that he didn’t want to do the surgery to correct it unless he was absolutely sure it was the problem. He thought that something mechanical could be going on with my body and suggested a new bike fit. Now I was in pain even at rest and was finishing up my last semester of graduate school.  Even though I had received bike fits I decided to try other ones. I tried Wobble-naught and found some improvement in the “loss of power” symptom but none in the hip pain. A little while later I went back to UVA to the Speed Clinic to receive another opinion. They saw that my right leg was extremely tight and that it did not have proper range of motion. I tried their fit but found I was in even more pain so I went back to the Wobble-naught one. I had pretty much given up on the idea of racing this summer and was content just riding my bike. The pain was becoming worse at rest while sitting at my desk at work and I was becoming increasingly frustrated. I just wanted to know what was causing it. Every one had guesses but no one could provide a sound explanation. Then one day there was a breakthrough. On a ride with my coach I was having trouble shifting so he hopped on my bike to repair it. While riding he came back and said, does your pedal feel weird to you?” I said, “no”. So I got on his bike and rode around. His right pedal felt much better. It was very strange. I got back on my bike and the right pedal just didn’t feel right. We went back to his house where we began putting on different pedals to see if the pedal spindle was worn out or bent. But every pedal on the right side of my bike did not feel right. Then we finally figured it out through measuring and specifically looking at the crank. The pedal hole had not been drilled at a 90-degree angle so my foot was not pedaling in a circular motion. We immediately found some new cranks and my bike felt much better. I had an appointment scheduled with a Sports Medicine Doctor because I still felt a lot of pain at rest and sitting at my desk. Upon our meeting the doctor asked me if I had sustained any injuries. I said “no, that I have had minor crashes, but nothing out of the ordinary”. However, I did tell him about the crank. He took a pelvic x-ray and plain as day it revealed arthritis in the right sacroiliac joint. He said since the left one looked perfect it was most certainly the result of repetitive trauma from improper motion of the crank. It did not make a whole lot of sense to me at first, but when he asked me about how long and how often I had trained with that crank (over a year, 6 to 7 days a week for 1 to 5 hours) it made perfect sense. Not only would it cause arthritis, it would put a tremendous amount of stress on other muscles, tendons and ligaments over time.  It was at this time that I was referred to Dr. Hima Nadal.

For the first time in nearly a year, I felt that Hima actually really sat down and listened to exactly what was going on with my body. Her questioning was extremely detailed so she knew exactly how to work with me. I have been working with Hima for five months and am confident in saying that the “blood flow” problem has remedied itself. My pelvis was a mess and she has worked hard to set it back correctly. Once this was done I realized how badly my body was out of alignment. My left leg, at first, was weak on the bike because the right having to over compensate. Now, I am even, which will greatly improve my efficiency in races. Working with Dr. Nadal has made all of the difference. Instead of masking the problem she went to the root of the problem and worked her way up. I had great benefits for reiki and myofascial release that she used on me as well. I have already been talking with race teams next year and am recommending her to other athletes that I have known with other mysterious injuries. Dr. Nadal saved me from a very expensive and very invasive surgery which would have not corrected the problem.
- Samantha Williams

Breast Cancer Patient
Testimonies from Aqua Detox Foot Bath

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