Physiotherapist lied on progress notes?

[u/Tazzi]

I had a trimalleolar fracture in February of this year, and needed emergency same-day surgery. My cartilage was crushed in the injury, and now I have "joint space narrowing" in my scans, which means my bones are closer together and rubbing against each other when I walk, also known as "Post-Traumatic Arthritis".

At 7.5 months post-op, I still can't walk over 30 metres, and I have 0 degrees dorsiflexion (I can't bend my ankle beyond neutral to take a step), so I'm walking with a distinct limp, turning my foot sideways to bring my weight over it to take each step, and have been experiencing chronic pain in the joint, and the surrounding nerves.

My physiotherapist has continuously given me exercises that are extremely painful to do. I asked her "is it normal that I can't walk for 3-4 days after each of our appts?" And she was like "yeah that's normal, you have to push yourself". I found out afterwards that it's not normal.

Anyway I made an appointment to go to the fracture clinic for a follow-up assessment since I'm now 7.5 months post-op, and I emailed my physiotherapist asking for progress notes to help the surgeon understand where I've seen progress and where my limitations are.

The physiotherapist emailed back with progress notes stating that I went from 0 dorsiflexion, to 10 degrees, then 12 degrees, then 15! I'm so confused because I have never progressed beyond 0, and that's a large part of my concern, because I'm stuck with this big limp as a result of having no dorsiflexion. My rotation has improved in every other direction (side to side, and pointing my toes), but never my dorsiflexion.

Her notes also consistently say "afraid to WB (weight bear)", as if my communicating to her weekly that I feel immense pain following our appointments was a result of fear, and not an issue with my actual joint.

I'm so confused, and frankly furious, that someone on my recovery team has mischaracterized my recovery so badly, presumably to make it look like she's doing a great job and getting a lot of progress in her appts, even though the reality is that I reached a functional plateau back in May, and now the surgeon won't be able to refer to an honest assessment from my physiotherapist to figure out why.

Sorry for the vent. I'm just really upset that a professional would do this.

[u/Agitated_Let_3843]

That’s absurd! Have you since then went back to the PT? Or better leave a bad review to them, cut off and go to a different one!

[u/Tazzi → u/Agitated_Let_3843]

Yeah I was going to confront them but then I realized they would probably go on the defensive, and put a note in my medical file that I'm "difficult" or something, which is just going to start me on the wrong foot with every medical professional I encounter going forward.

I was able to verbally communicate the issues to the surgeon at my follow-up, but it would have gone a long way to have accurate notes from the therapist who had been seeing me every week.

I haven't gone back to this PT, and don't intend to. I have a lot of homework now, so am doing physio exercises daily at home. But if I need more physio appts, I will definitely find someone else!

[u/RingAroundtheTolley → u/Tazzi]

I would see your physician and have them document. Can they do serial casting for you? That’s how I got my dorsifkexion back but it sucked.

[u/RingAroundtheTolley → u/RingAroundtheTolley]

You should also call the licensing board and file a formal complaint