I had a physio triage appointment today, which is the first one that I have been offered since Decompression Surgery in April 2009. When I last spoke to a physio I was 6 days post surgery, and they just shrugged their shoulders, literally, when I told them what surgery I had. They didn't know what to recommend for me to do...........was next to useless.

My appointment today was arranged by my previous Neurosurgeon as the end to my treatment with him - he basically wrote me off as he told me he could do no more for me. I have since had a second opinion with another Neurosurgeon and I now have a new course of diagnostic treatment being done to check the progressive symptoms that I am now having as a result of the residual nerve damage from my Syrinx.

I was not looking forward to this appointment and was all negative about it due to previous experiences with physio's and the nature of this appointment.

I think that I was a little hard on them in hindsight, especially immediately post surgery. What can you really offer someone that has had the back of their head sliced open and part of their skull removed? A person with so many pre-surgery symptoms, most of which currently being hidden by painkillers, some new ones brought up as a result of a lack of sleep and comfort, some being eased by a renewed CSF flow, and some not yet settled down following surgery.

Anyway, I have recurring symptoms due to my Syrinx, some of them relating to muscle atrophy and others relating to where other muscles are doing the work for the wasted ones - causes pain and poor posture, especially because most of the important wastage is in my back, neck and shoulders. I also have a lot of muscle loss in my arms, partially due to not exercising like I used to do and in general activity but also partially to do with the poor quality of messages being sent through my nerve pathways as a result of the damage in my spine.

When nerve tissues damage occurs, messages get mixed up, they become weaker and start to affect the blood flow through muscle tissue. Some muscles shrink through not beig used or used properly, and some muscles take over other muscles jobs which they are not designed to do. What can quickly develop is a painful mess, and it has donein me.

So I saw the physio today, who doesn't really know much about Chiari and Syringomyelia (although she does have 2 other patients with a syrinx) but to be honest I thought she was brilliant.

She immediately noticed and diagnosed the muscle wastage and the issues that it was causing and recommended 3 very simple exercises to try and get my lateral muscles in my back behind my shoulder blades to get back working properly. After a few reps of doing these I felt them working really well........ so looks like I might be seeing a little progression at last.

To be honest I have been doing a few of them anyway in the morning to try and loosen myself up when I first wake, or at least something like them anyway. But now she has shown me how to exercise and stretch properly.

It's great to have someone who is qualified and who is prepared to look at something on the face of it and offer great advice. At least now I know that I can be doing something each day to improve my condition.

I think that I have changed my whole outlook on the Physio department as a result of my positive experience today.

What was very apparent from the chat with her and questions that I asked, were that I should not be doing anything more strenuous than gentle muscle stretches and manipulation. I was warned off swimming unless it was just resistance training and that I should avoid anything which would cause me to strain my back or any other part of my body because of the risk of making my Syrinx worse.

At least it's a start though.

What I will say though, like with any Physio appointment, is that what they recommend is only effective if you actually do what they say and how many times a day they say to do it.

They recommend specific exercises and things for you to do to fit your own specific problems, therefore one exercise does not fit all.

You can self refer (in most cases) to see a physiotherapist without going to see your GP. If you have any questions, then do not hesitate to ring your own local physiotherapy department and go for a triage appointment.

The longer you leave a problem, the harder it will be to fix.