I am inviting you to join me and many others in preparing for surgery and recovery in a thoughtful, intentional, systematic way. I invite you to begin and sustain a rigorous program of mental and physical training. Begin it today, and use it to make substantive change in as many aspects of your life as…
It’s Expensive Money is tight and I have to keep my powder dry for when I’ll really need it- after the surgery. Or I can just do what my HMO Physical Therapist gives me. I don’t have time or attention for this I have to get ahead on my work and make all these arrangements. I’m…
Mustering the motivation to perform our exercise routine and staying active through the day to reach our step goal (whatever that is) can be a challenge. We might be sore, or tired, or feeling discouraged. Or imagining fatigue or discomfort after exercise with dread. What does one day matter, anyway? (that’s the voice of discouragement talking, btw)….
Prehab is just what is sounds like: it’s rehabilitation before surgery. The stronger you are going into surgery, the easier and faster your rehab will be. Your doctor or surgeon will readily confirm this (all of mine were emphatic about this). “Fat lot of good that does me”, you may be thinking. “I’m in too much…
Take responsibility for your own recovery Without questioning the competence and dedication of the Physical Therapist assigned to you by your insurer, be forewarned: what you’re getting from them is likely not enough for a full and complete recovery. If you visit a PT twice a month, for 30-45 minutes, much of it spent assessing and talking,…
You can’t stretch like you fold laundry. At least once each day, you’re going to be doing some stretching. It’s up to you whether you view it as yet another chore to do in the shortest possible time, and possibly with a sense of resentment (“didn’t I just stretch yesterday?”). But you can learn to…
I admit it. Some days I just can’t believe I have to exercise or stretch yet again. Didn’t I just do that? I may find myself filled with dread and inertia. I just don’t wanna. Whether we’re talking about staying comfortable and functional pre-op, or restoring comfort and function post-op, if you weren’t previously in…
It’s easy to injure ourselves while training Because that’s how it works. Underdoing it has downsides, just as overdoing does. The goal is the walk the line between the two. And it’s not such a fine line- I found that after the initial period of inflammation, each week I could add a thousand or several…
Notice when you’re comparing yourself to a mental picture or expectation. You might hear about someone else’s rate of recovery and decide that you should be able to transition from crutches to walking sticks when I did. Or you might wait longer than necessary because you don’t think you should be able to do something so soon….