1. After Physical Therapy: Am I Totally Healed or Restored?
A few painful and not so painful routines you’ve had to go through, all the precautions
when doing daily activities, and meticulously following the careful designed program to
get you better, you finally convinced your therapist that you’re doing well. Your doctor
released you, and your physical therapist said you’re all set. The question now comes to
mind: what do I do next?
Say you’re one of those very athletic, sporty people who just can’t enough of the
outdoors. The need to immediately go back to your sports is understandable. You long
to just go back where you left off as if nothing happened. The question is, are you
putting yourself at risk? Is that dangerous to a newly released physical therapy patient?
Actually, the answer is yes. Your physical therapy sessions may have aimed to restore
your body back to normal. However, the process is not that simple. You need to give
your body more time to recover.
The temptation of testing your limit is very strong, but if you really want to restore your
body back, you have to give it more time to heal.
It is advisable to be a little precautious. Some patients might even ask questions like:
what happens after my therapy? Could I get massages now? What if my pains come
back?
To avoid recurrence of pains, you must avoid engaging into that activity that got you
injured in the first place. We all do want to test our endurance and even our strengths,
but you should avoid that at all costs after your physical therapy. If you really want to
restore your body, you need a good set of patience. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Do not be too complacent with the fact that you are already released. Even if you are,
your body is still on the process of healing.
So, what to do? It is quite simple, actually. With that patience referred to earlier, you can
basically get back in shape without harming yourself.
Go back to basics. Four words, not that excruciating. You need to start at the very
beginning and relearn your skills. Of course, don’t expect the process to be as long and
as painful as when you were really starting from scratch. In this process, you need to
check if your habits; make sure you’re practicing good and safe ones. You’ll get there
soon. Don’t worry.
Your release from the therapist’s care is not your passport to challenge yourself and act
as if nothing happened to you. That is simply the first step of your recovery. Don’t act
like a superhero at the risk of injuring your own body. Take this advice. It is always good
to care for our bodies, especially if we belong to the athletic set of people who just love
to take challenges. If you just got out of physical therapy, those challenges can wait.
The aim is to get your body back to normal without harming it. Good luck!
To answer your personal questions about your current physical status, talk to Deborah
Koval.
