This week has involved a lot of time at home and a lot of physical therapy exercises. It occurred to me: You have to be actively involved in your own healing.
I can’t get over how quickly change can happen if you allow it, then push yourself in that direction. It’s not something you can wait for. On Friday, I couldn’t lift my left leg, even though I’ve been focusing a good bit of energy on trying to activate my quads (a bit of the tendon was used in my ACL reconstruction).
Then I got a little nudge from my doc at OrthoCarolina to walk with my crutches more, putting partial weight down. To keep trying to wake my quad up. On Saturday, I started getting there. I started to lift my left leg in a semi-straight line.
The hardest part of physical therapy so far? Pushing through pain. It’s different from what I’m accustomed to as a yogi – finding a deep stretch and holding it in a way that “hurts so good.” With physical therapy exercises, a lot of the points of resistance hurt, but not in a good-feeling way. Still, it’s in a way that I understand that there’s strength on the other side. I just need to actively get myself there. And get a little strained and sore in the process.
I finally got out of the house a bit this weekend, too, now that I’m cleared to drive (I’m able to bend my healing knee over 90 degrees to get in the car, and my right leg is just fine). The highlight:
Crutch-walking one mile in Myers Park with a girlfriend (holy crap is she patient), then sitting with her and a hazelnut coffee on a bench at Laurel Market. It felt amazing to get some sun, move my legs and soak up some quality girl time.
