Waldorf School Of Princeton

1062 Cherry Hill Road
Princeton NJ 08540
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609-466-1970
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http://www.princetonwaldorf.org

News

05/25/2018: Waldorf School of Princeton Announces Family Tuition Cap for the 2018-19 School Year

03/01/2012: When a Doctor Becomes Patient Part 4 – Initial Post-Op Days

After a severe combined right ACL and MCL injury during pick-up basketball, I elected to treat my MCL non-surgically with prolotherapy injections, and to have the ACL treated surgically. 

When I woke up from the surgery, it felt as though time had not even passed.  I looked down and saw that my right leg was wrapped with an ace wrap from my ankle up to the thigh.  There was a large brace with stabilizing hinges already fitted on my leg.  I also had a special femoral nerve catheter in place to provide continuous local anesthesia to the knee and was instructed to leave this in place for 3 days. 

Carefully, with crutches I maneuvered to the car and went home.  Within an hour of returning home the pain in the right leg began increasing, and I noticed that the inner thigh area was numb, and yet the front of the thigh and knee was not.  I surmised the reason was that the femoral nerve catheter was placed in a slightly different location and therefore was providing anesthesia to an area supplied by another nerve.  After waiting another day and discussing the issue with the anesthesiologist who placed the catheter, we agreed I should just pull it out since it wasn’t really working on its intended purpose. 

The first day post-op was the most difficult in terms of knee pain.  The knee was swollen, discolored (as happens from a bruise and is typical post-surgery), but there was no redness or any sign of infection.   I was able to bend it about 40 degrees but was unable to fully extend the knee.   

On day 2, I developed a sciatic pain down the right buttock and the back of the thigh and knee, which steadily progressed to the point where it was severe enough to mask the knee pain entirely. 

This turned out to be the worst case of “sciatica” that I had ever experienced in my life.  The pain prevented sleep, it prevented even normal conversation.  The pain medication which helped the knee pain did not provide any relief whatsoever for the new pain.   I knew it would be unlikely that my orthopedic surgeon could help me, since my back pain was not directly caused by my knee.  However, my theory was that walking around the house with a heavy brace and stiff knee caused either my sacroiliac joint to become irritated or exacerbated a pinched nerve in the back. 

People who have experienced sciatica will understand what I am saying.  When they lift up their leg, there is a lightning bolt of pain that shoots down the leg which takes the breath away.  Those who know will also admit that there is little sense in taking opioids for sciatic pain since it really does not work for this type of nerve pain.  As a specialist in interventional spine and rehabilitation, I was astonished at how quickly this ‘sciatica’ came on and humbled by how little I could cure it on my own.  I tried positioning my leg in different positions, changing my seatback, taking anti-inflammatories, vitamins, supplements, and anything else I could think of. 

Finally, I called our chiropractor and was seen for an adjustment as well as traction on a special machine that gently pulls the lower spine apart.  For several days I continued this program and gradually over the course of 20 days, the right sided sciatic pain resolved!   From a medical doctor’s standpoint, I know there are many in my specialty that might be skeptical of chiropractic treatments, however from personal experience, I can say that my pain was certainly improved because of a chiropractor.  Accordingly, in our practice, we deliver coordinated care with athletic trainers, chiropractors, medical doctors, and physical therapists all under one roof. 

By post op day 21, I wrote this in my journal: “ Swelling is about same as last week, perhaps more pronounced when I looked at it today at 4pm, towards end of the work day, on my feet all day.  And hot, humid weather.  Straight leg raise for quad strengthening hurts back /buttock only a little now, not shooting down leg as much, and now able to prevent knee from lagging although quite weak.  I wish I remembered what I felt like at this time post initial injury, b/c feeling frustrated that i'm not better than I am.  Also of concern is the lack of mobility of skin tissue overlying the hamstring incision located at per anserine insertion.  Seems to be fixed to underlying tibia.  Flexion of knee is passively to 100 degrees, actively 60 degrees. “

Up to this point, I had not started formal physical therapy.  Please join me in my next post, as I discuss my experience as a physical therapy patient. 

01/30/2012: Adventure 1: Zumba

Being a physical therapist, I am quick to lecture about the latest stats about the importance of exercise and how doing at least 30 minutes of exercise a day can reduce your risk of many serious diseases. I have been active all of my life, engaging in sports, running, biking and going to the gym, but after many years of doing these things I wanted to try something new. I have been going to the same gym for 10 years and have only engaged in one of the group classes. As a new year’s resolution I decided to spice up my workouts and try some of the classes that my gym has to offer. The first class I wanted to experiment with was Zumba.

I have heard some good and some not so good things about this Latin inspired danceexercise class.  From a personal standpoint, I have had friends describe it as “fun” and “a good way to shed some pounds”.The website does define it as a “fitness party”.  From a professional standpoint, I have seen quite a few patients who have claimed to hurt their knee, ankle, etc during a class. Because of this, I had to try it out to see the pros and cons of Zumba, and of course, see if it is something I would recommend to my patients once they are discharged from therapy.

The class was on a Thursday night and started to fill up quickly with a variety of people. The age range of the group was between 16 and 76 years. There was a mix of beginners as well as advanced Zumba professionals. The class began with the instructor starting up some modern dance music and just starting the dance routine. This is a little nerve wracking for a physical therapist without rhythm and no prior Zumba experience!

The purpose of Zumba is to keep it upbeat and energetic. It is supposed to be a party, not a traditional group aerobic exercise class that is why instruction is minimal to none.  As we went through the hour long program, I did notice that they were targeting most of the major muscle groups. There was also an opportunity of small rest breaks which I found to be beneficial, as did most of the class. However, I did find myself focusing more on getting the moves right. I wanted to be sure I was working each muscle group properly with proper form, probably more so than some of the other participants. There were definitely some moves that I could see why people get injured. The physical therapist inside of me would not allow me to just “let loose” and have fun with it, but it forced me to focus on getting the most out of my workout.  By the end of the session, I realized that I probably never laughed so much through a workout before. It was definitely the fastest one hour workout I had ever had, so I could see where this type of workout would appeal to a large number of people.

So from a physical therapy standpoint, here are my recommendations regarding Zumba:

1. If you are new to working out, you should seek out a gym that will start you out with some private personal training sessions. A personal trainer will be able to go through basic Zumba movements, like lunges, side squats, etc and educate you on the proper techniques for these exercises. If you go into a Zumba class and just follow along without prior knowledge of this, you are more likely to get hurt. Another idea would be to try a Zumba workout DVD or video game first so that you can do it at your own pace.
2. On your first few sessions, SLOW DOWN! Do not worry if you are not keeping up with the class. Make sure to slow down the movements and do not rush from one move to another. If they skip ahead to a new move and you are still on the one before, just keep doing that one until a new move is started. Do not try to rush through it.
3. Most classes are just a “Zumba” class. According to the Zumba website, there are different Zumba classes. For those starting out or perhaps those with physical limitations, the Zumba Gold classes may be best. Zumba Gold modifies the moves to slow the pace down.  It changes the moves to make them appropriate to those starting out. You may want to visit the Zumba website to see the different types of classes and decide which is best for you.
4. If you have any history of knee, foot, ankle, or back injury, you may want to see your local physical therapist to assess any risk of injury.  There are certain movements that may aggravate a previous injury so a physical therapist may be able to identify any weaknesses or stability issues that may make you more prone to re-injury. For instances, if you experience pain with lunges or squats normally, then the same lunges or squats during Zumba are probably going to hurt as well. A physical therapist may help you to become pain free with these exercises and prepare you for Zumba classes.
5. Listen to your body!! If a certain movement hurts, do not do it.

01/06/2012: Small is the New Big

(SALESMAN'S DISCLAIMER: The follow blog is in no way meant to discourage readers from contracting with this blogger or any other kitchen and bath remodeling firm for massively large kitchen and/or bathroom projects that involve full guts of existing spaces, movement of walls, addition of windows, skylights, new floors, full appliance packages, custom cabinets, and exotic countertop materials. The following discussion of small and modestly priced projects is for entertainment purposes only.)

Lately we've been remodeling a good amount of smaller spaces for our clients. Some of these projects, I think, have been to satisfy the urge to renovate, but without investing in full kitchen remodels. It's always satisfying to improve a home you love, and remodeling your home office, mud room and smaller bathrooms can be very rewarding. And in smaller, down town homes, a thoughtful re-design of little spaces can make a big difference.

Here is nice home office we did on an unused third floor.

We used semi-custom cabinets here to keep the budget reasonable while allowing us to customize the cabinets to fit the smaller walls under the roof line.

Cranmer's Kitchens designer Kris Greaves created this desk/reading/dresser area for a girl's bedroom, adding fun, style and function all on one wall!

Here is a great, small kitchen remodel designed by Stephen Thompson or Design Force, with material and renovation by Cranmer's Kitchens. The kitchen looks brand new and completely re-designed, but it's not. For this project, we only replaced the wall cabinets, replaced the doors and drawers on the base cabinets, and added the newly designed table area. This is a great example of good design and careful budgeting resulting in a brand new space for a reasonable investment.

My favorite part - Stephen specified a little extra depth over the hood, changed the finish and found some high-end chicken wire (who knew?) to provide a great focal point.

Hall baths and powder rooms are nice, modest investment level projects that can really add to a home. Here is a great powder room designed by Andrea Powell from Complete Interiors. Great use of bold colors and a totally custom Wood-mode vanity piece to really make maximum impact in a small space.

(Pic coming soon!)

01/05/2012: The Microwave Broke

The microwave broke.  It was part of a wall unit, ten years old and kind of ugly.  For a little while I used it to store bread but I really missed heating up my morning joe to a tongue scalding temperature.   The broken microwave led to a full-blown renovation. The long and short of it was:  broken microwave = new kitchen appliances = kitchen renovation.  That was the equation and the point of no return.

What is your equation?  Laminate counter stain = new counter tops = partial kitchen renovation?  No matter the equation there comes a point of no return and a complete or partial renovation becomes imminent.  If you own a kitchen that’s aging or not, it’s out there and it’s coming your way.  Are you prepared or will you be using your microwave as bread storage?

It never hurts to be prepared.  There are so many ways to pull to together an ultimate kitchenwish list.  Grocery store and home improvement stores have magazines and books but check out the fantastic ideas on Houzz.com, Pinterest.com or hgtv.com and explore the many fantasy kitchens ideas.

Tag, pin, or cut pictures that makeyou sigh.  You know the feeling.  If you have that Wolf Range than all will be right with world.  If you have the right appliance the than the food will jump out of the frig land on the counter and start preparing itself.   Fantasy, perhaps but lets just say: fantasy + preparation = reality. 

Go ahead, get that wish list going and be prepared for a major appliance breakdown!