It sucks to have any kind of setback after the patience and hard work it takes to get back to normal or better.

I think it speaks volumes that you reacted to help this other person without thinking about what the consequences might be for yourself. I hope you start to feel better soon.

As for what others could do, the minimum or otherwise . . . it sounds like you were sensitive to this particular woman's anxiety about falling. That can be both a gift and a liability.

Having been through injury and rehab myself -- sometimes we do need someone to catch us so that we don't exacerbate our injuries. Other times, we need to be allowed to fall so that we can learn. Limits and boundaries shift during the healing process, and they need to be tested so that we know when we can push and when to back off.

I guess my point is: it's great that you went to help -- but was it actually needed? Yes, her PT may have been struggling, but maybe was not at the point when she needed to ask others for help. I wasn't there, I don't know, maybe there wasn't time to verbalize anything.

Maybe there are some broader issues at play here . . . for example, I often think that my co-workers should be more sensitive to my ongoing issues with my back and hip, when in reality, why should they? they don't live with my problems, and they don't know what it's like. It's not necessarily fair for me to expect them to be sensitive to my needs, even if they intellectually know that I've been through something terrible.

Is there a camel's back that is under stress here, and is this the straw that would break it?