At this point in my recovery, I also decided to stop going to physical therapy because I was not able to really progress with the activities and have been able to do more on my own and keep a better schedule. Also, I personally didn't feel that I was receiving the type of encouraging support from my therapist that I needed and didn't see the benefits in spending money for something that I was more motivated to do on my own. Sometimes there is a disconnection between an understanding of the emotions and frustrations involved within the rehabilitation process. Some days you make really great progression and other days you plateau or feel like you are going backwards. Everyone has their good and bad days, but working through them and understanding the process and that you are not alone can help. Having a support system that understands and helps you within the various stages of recovery is important. My therapist would sometimes become frustrated with what my orthopedist would release me to do and often made me feel like I wasn't progressing fast enough. This didn't always happen and I had a great relationship with my therapist, but as with any relationship there can be some bumps in the road or a different opinion or viewpoint. I trust my orthopedist and have been going to him for a long time and know that he is one of the best in the area and is highly recommended for this type of injury.
This overall disconnect would create an awkwardness between my own competitive athletic thoughts and what my body was physically capable and telling me to do. The mind and body disconnect is one of the hardest challenges when it comes to injury recovery. My physical therapy progress overall was beneficial and provided me with what I needed to recover and rebuild my strength, confidence, and flexibility. I have been going there for a very long time, but there always comes a time when you need to break away from the crutch and build up your own strength. Stepping away from the crutches is one of the hardest things to do.
Now that I was on my own schedule, I was able to start swimming more. I swam a couple times a week during the summer, which was a nice change of pace as well as how therapeutic the water can be. I honestly was really nervous how that would turn out, but surprisingly was in better form than I could have possibly imagined. Having been a competitive swimmer it was hard to set a realistic expectation as to what to expect with form and the amount of laps that I would be able to do. I started out small with only swimming what would be normally a light warm up of smaller lap sets (ex: 15...20...25 maximum) and built up from there. The only thing that is hard is moderation and not being able to swim really any other stroke than freestyle. I was able to gauge my progression through how strong my kick was as well as building up to swimming breaststroke and how that felt. In the pool I also did some of my leg strengthening exercises and stretches. The pool has always been almost a source of meditation for me, especially when it is empty so being able to start utilizing this resource really helped in my physical and mental recovery.
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to
succeed is strong enough.”-Og Mandino
Until we
speak again! Ciao
