I've been in physio since summer, maybe spring, for various injuries and chronic pain. They have NO idea what to do for me! Nothing is working.

Well, tell a lie - I have insoles for my street shoes now and if I wear them all the time then my arch pain which I've had since 2005 is vastly decreased, but obviously the insoles don't fit in all of my shoes.

I had an hour's session yesterday (it was only a 20 minute appointment!) with two physios, and I think we got to the bottom of why nothing works. I'm just very badly made! They watched me walk up and down in bare feet/shorts for a while, and from what I managed to gather I have too much rotation in my knees and not enough in my hips? Or something. So they wanted to give me some hip flexor exercises - basically starting from the hip down, working on every area of the leg to stabilise it which will hopefully diminish the foot pain.

But, it didn't work. Lie on an exercise ball and do this, can you feel that in your hip? No, my back. Do this, can you feel it in your glute? No, the hamstring of my other leg. Do this, can you feel it in x? No, in y. NOTHING works. I feel every exercise in just about the wrong place! And I'm definitely doing them correctly because they put my in x position and adjusted my stance and everything...they're just baffled as to why I don't feel it in the right place!

Is anyone else a complete failure when it comes to having physiotherapy or is it seriously just me?

I've now got the number for an Irish dance specialist physio for a second opinion, he'll charge but I might as well go and say hi. Just needed a bit of a rant about my complete failure to improve in anything, because I'm coated in ibuprofen gel and bandaged up to the knees in tubigrip and STILL in pain.

Louise, I'm exactly the same! I have nothing to say to make you feel any better but just know you're not alone!

I've been going since about June 2011 for hip and knee pain and query dodgy alignment. They were unable to pinpoint anything and seemed to adopt a 'it might be this so let's give abc a try' without ever confirming anything.
Eventually I went back to the gp and pushed for a referral to orthopaedics which finally happened last month. I was x-rayed, pulled and prodded and was told I have pretty severe femoral anteversion and also tibial torsion...never heard a whiff of that from the physio! My options seem to be A. Put up and shut up with an increased risk of early onset arthritis or B. have my hips dislocated, femurs broken and re-aligned in a huge operation. Fabulous.

/my rant.

I feel for you!

Yes! I was having trouble with physios who didn't understand my needs as a dancer (often they give you exercises that do nothing because you're too strong/flexible/whatever for the regular options). So I went to a dance specialist physio. That helped in the short-term but wasn't a long-term solution.

I'm now getting treatment with an osteopath. I am not the kind of girl who seeks out 'alternative' treatments. I'm very sceptical. But my osteopath has been fantastic so far. His treatment is sort of a mixture of deep massage, physio and chiro. I don't know if that's the norm as he's the only osteopath I've ever been to but I have found much more improvement since seeing him. However, I have to say it seems like it will be an ongoing thing, the way chiro is. I guess there's no way to fix my back permanently. Sigh.

Daughter was in physical therapy for some time with no luck. In fact, it even seemed to make her feel worse. She has had better luck with a chiropractor, but the second chiropractor has been more effective than the first one.

She, too, seems to be "badly made" as you put it. She has several anomolies that interfere with proper placement. I feel standard procedures are not as effective when you have anomolies and treatment should be adapted for you personally, rather than a just, 'well, this is what we do for knee pain, arch pain, etc.' type of approach. Unfortunately, much of that can be trial and error.

We have discovered kinesio tape recently and that has made a huge difference in her knee pain! Ask your professional about it.

Good luck in your efforts, kk~

I was in physical therapy two times for neck pain and nothing worked - it just made the pain worse! I got cortisone injections as well... didn't help. The only thing that's worked for me is getting massages 1-2 times per month. (I met with a chiropractor, but with the type of stuff I have going on he referred me to a massage therapist.)

It just doesn't work with anyone. If you've given it your best shot it might be time to move on to something else.

Oh yeah. I can so relate! Except I tried for almost 3 years for various injuries, had a surgery, and nothing really helped. One of my biggest regrets is that I went to PT after I was in a boot--I think if I just tried to fix myself before they messed me up, it would have been better. Needless to say, I still have some bitter feelings over that one. That's one of the reasons I want to be a PT--I want to help dancers (Irish dancers in particular) because most PTs just don't get how we move so they treat us one way, and then go "well I don't get why it's not working!" when you go back to dance. Even when you tell them repeatedly that dance requires you to move a different way and they aren't preparing you well to go back.

I could rant on about my issues with PTs all day, but I really don't want to bore you with my ranting. If you want to hear my theories feel free to PM me.

Suffise to say yes, you're not alone.

Likewise. I've only been going for about a month for a knee injury, but so far it's just seemed to make the pain worse. My kneecap is always out of place now, which it only used to do sometimes. Plus the appointments themselves hurt - I literally almost passed out once when he was massaging my knee, and I have a very high pain tolerance. I can barely walk for a day or so afterward, also. I'm sticking it out for now, because it's supposed to help in the long term, but so far it's just frustrating!

Me! I have severe pain from my sway back and they gave me a bunch of stuff to do to try and fix it and nothing helped. I eventually gave up and stopped going because my body literally could not do the exercises they wanted me to do. I could not move that way. It ended up being more painful and frustrating then doing nothing.

I started having issues when I was doing athletics at around 10 years old. I have been going to various physios since then (mainly for the one thing or something that was possibly related to that thing). I was 22 when I found a physio that knew what was wrong and how to fix it. All of the physios that I had gone to before were highly trained sports physios that dealt with world class athletes, it just took that long to find someone that could figure out my body, how it worked and what needed fixing.

I often have the "yeah, that isn't where I'm feeling it" thing. It often frustrates my poor physio but we usually get to the root of the problem eventually. I've also lost count of the amount of times he's made me walk around, jog, sprint, do a fling or something.

Definitely get a second opinion. I hope you find something (and someone) that helps you get sorted.

It might be worth looking into Alexander Technique. I've only really done a bit that was more focused for dancers, but I got a friend who was having similar physio issues to try it and it's worked wonders for her. It's all about working out what habits of posture/movement you have that are causing you problems, and hence learning to move more efficiently and with less trouble. Might be worth a shot since they approach it from a slightly different angle than a physio would?