Apart from the inconveniences I encountered and still encountering though not similar, the constant fear that resurface, there is also this tough work of getting yourself to the rehab centre.
Having spoken with many patients that has injuries to spine, shoulder, wrist, calves, knees and ankle ( to-date, only these patients I met ), I realized most of them finds it hassle to come for physiotherapy sessions. Some finds it a waste of time even. Some finds it costly to pay for their sessions.
Often we hear people saying that health is important. True enough. As often as we hear people saying this, it is also often we see people neglecting their health. And I am no exception. To be frank, my condition was not good at all. Both knees had their own set of seriousness. Someday I shall share with you my condition. As of now, I prefer to focus on recovery and the journey of it.
As a person who went through this whole journey for about 9 months now, 6 months of pre operation physiotherapy and 3 months of post operation physiotherapy and even witnessing and talking to patients who went through similar surgery but without pre operation physiotherapy, I would say there is a huge difference. What I am about to say here touches the aspect of investing time for physiotherapy sessions. Money aspect aside though.
Take for example my own condition, I think I would not have made it this far if it was not for pre operation physiotherapy. I remember very well the very first session I had with the centre. It was painful. My muscles were so stiff and it could hardly do IRQ (inner range quads). The exercise in the video may look easy to normal people. But, for someone with a condition like myself, it was a painful exercise. And this is just one of the basic exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knees.
Regardless how much pain you have to endure before the surgery, trust me, it is worth every bit of it. It made post operation physiotherapy easier. As the muscles were warmed up way before surgery, in other words, activated, the muscles are actually ready to take on the next level of tests.
I learned that my condition did not take me 3 months to build its muscles strength. It took 6 solid months. That is how bad I was. Both therapists and doctor never objected to my target of getting the surgery within 3 months. Reason being, none of us know the amount of strength my muscles had. It was poor alright. It was like about 6 years or so that I never been to the gym or doing any real exercises.
Patients who dived straight to surgery, thinking they could handle post operation physiotherapist often gets frustrated with the fact they cannot achieve the speed and strength of doing certain exercises. They constantly complained about tremendous pain. I was told that our muscles have memory. And since you have yet to activate them and decide to move straight for surgery, this is actually the price you have pay.
I was and still am disciplined. My ultimate goal has helped me this far and able to be as disciplined as possible to attend 3 sessions of physiotherapy in a week; whereby each session last between 2 1/2 hour to 3 hours, has so far bore me exceptionally good recovery. And I thank you God for this.
Every patient gets to learn about their own condition and even learn a thing or two about health, correct (techniques) and targeted exercises and even our own body anatomy. What more can you possibly ask for in a rehab centre apart from getting help for your own condition?
Talking about my goal. It is a simple goal - I would only opt for TKR ( total knee replacement ) only when I am 60 year old of age and nothing sooner. Now, I am praying for a miracle where I need not endure another surgery in future and certainly do not want to be wheelchair bound.
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