Page 14 - Indulge August/September 2015
P. 14
ooUkGiHe Working as a nurse An MRI revealed that she
in an intensive care had spinal stenosis, where
Back pain didn’t cause unit is not light the nerves in the lower back
Her to crumble duty. The shifts are are compressed.
12 hours long, and
nurses are constantly picking She began physical therapy.
patients up, turning them, The Comprehensive Spine
bending over to check lines Management Program offers
and tubes and moving beds to 3 Ways 2 Heal, using physical
diagnostic rooms. therapy, pain management and,
as a last resort, spinal surgery.
Denise Beruta has worked
in an ICU for 17 years. Three days a week, Denise
visited the Good Shepherd
“It’s work that demands Physical Therapy outpatient
compassion, skill and lots of location at Easton Hospital.
physical strength,” she says. It was there that she met,
Denise has worked as a nurse Amanda Garner, DPT, a
for 25 years, starting as an aide McKenzie-trained physical
as she went to nursing school. therapist. The McKenzie
Method uses exercises that find
Eventually the physical the root cause of the pain.
strain caught up to her. She’d
suffered from occasional “Amanda had me try an
bouts of sciatica pain that exercise where I lie flat on my
would start at her left hip and stomach and arch my back by
shoot down her leg. One day lifting up on my arms,” Denise
that pain wouldn’t go away. says. “That exercise began to
turn me around.”
In fact, it intensified.
But Denise is a tough It was the first time she
walked without pain in months.
cookie. She lived with it
for six months. “I have a Finding Relief
high tolerance for pain, so I
just lived on two Aleve a day,” She worked with Amanda
she says. for a few more weeks until the
She struggled to pain was gone completely.
get out of bed and
couldn’t straighten up She’s staying active.
when standing. Her three children and 9
“After work, I would lie grandchildren all live a few
on the couch and think miles from her house. They
this is what I had become,” often have big meals together
she says. and play in her pool.
Treating Back Pain “There are times if I push
myself at work and home that
Then she decided to do my sciatica can act up,” she
something at the prompting says. “But if I start doing my
of a few other nurses she exercises again, the pain goes
works with. She called away quickly.”
the Comprehensive Spine
Management Program at This cookie didn’t crumble.
Easton Hospital. “There was a day when I
imagined that this pain would
While her family only be resolved by surgery,”
physician wanted her to she says. “But the folks at
have a steroid shot, Vito the Comprehensive Spine
Loguidice, M.D., a fellowship- Management Program were
trained spinal surgeon and very caring, compassionate and
independent member of the found a solution.”
Easton Hospital medical staff, She adds, “I just hope other
had a different course of action. folks don’t lie around in pain for
six months like I did.”
in an intensive care had spinal stenosis, where
Back pain didn’t cause unit is not light the nerves in the lower back
Her to crumble duty. The shifts are are compressed.
12 hours long, and
nurses are constantly picking She began physical therapy.
patients up, turning them, The Comprehensive Spine
bending over to check lines Management Program offers
and tubes and moving beds to 3 Ways 2 Heal, using physical
diagnostic rooms. therapy, pain management and,
as a last resort, spinal surgery.
Denise Beruta has worked
in an ICU for 17 years. Three days a week, Denise
visited the Good Shepherd
“It’s work that demands Physical Therapy outpatient
compassion, skill and lots of location at Easton Hospital.
physical strength,” she says. It was there that she met,
Denise has worked as a nurse Amanda Garner, DPT, a
for 25 years, starting as an aide McKenzie-trained physical
as she went to nursing school. therapist. The McKenzie
Method uses exercises that find
Eventually the physical the root cause of the pain.
strain caught up to her. She’d
suffered from occasional “Amanda had me try an
bouts of sciatica pain that exercise where I lie flat on my
would start at her left hip and stomach and arch my back by
shoot down her leg. One day lifting up on my arms,” Denise
that pain wouldn’t go away. says. “That exercise began to
turn me around.”
In fact, it intensified.
But Denise is a tough It was the first time she
walked without pain in months.
cookie. She lived with it
for six months. “I have a Finding Relief
high tolerance for pain, so I
just lived on two Aleve a day,” She worked with Amanda
she says. for a few more weeks until the
She struggled to pain was gone completely.
get out of bed and
couldn’t straighten up She’s staying active.
when standing. Her three children and 9
“After work, I would lie grandchildren all live a few
on the couch and think miles from her house. They
this is what I had become,” often have big meals together
she says. and play in her pool.
Treating Back Pain “There are times if I push
myself at work and home that
Then she decided to do my sciatica can act up,” she
something at the prompting says. “But if I start doing my
of a few other nurses she exercises again, the pain goes
works with. She called away quickly.”
the Comprehensive Spine
Management Program at This cookie didn’t crumble.
Easton Hospital. “There was a day when I
imagined that this pain would
While her family only be resolved by surgery,”
physician wanted her to she says. “But the folks at
have a steroid shot, Vito the Comprehensive Spine
Loguidice, M.D., a fellowship- Management Program were
trained spinal surgeon and very caring, compassionate and
independent member of the found a solution.”
Easton Hospital medical staff, She adds, “I just hope other
had a different course of action. folks don’t lie around in pain for
six months like I did.”
