November 2018, I had a knee injury. It started me out on a long journey of physio therapy, surgery, recovery, recuperating, strengthening exercises, and more physio therapy. And well, even now, over two years later, if I feel the need, I land up connecting with my physio therapist for a release. This “release”, for those who are unfamiliar, is basically a session where the therapist works the muscles around the area that is bothering, mine being the knee, in this case. This fixes the tightness in the muscles, the blood flow, and the tense muscles just relax. Anyone who has been for physiotherapy can tell you what a painful process it is, but after, you feel like gold.
Typically, a session is for 60 minutes. A few sessions in with the therapist, you meet like buddies. Pleasantries are exchanged, there is a small catch up session, and then because you are meeting often enough, you tend to bring every minute movement of the injury to the table—today I felt a second of pain shoot down calf, today I heard the knee click when I sat, today my muscle feels stronger, look at the shape coming back to normal etc…you get the idea. You also bring your mood board to their table, and they patiently deal with it.
This person becomes the friend you kid around with, your doctor, your pain reliever, and an all-round support. I remember times when I was low about the progress, my therapist, understood my frustration and took me through the recovery journey for the 458th time, to pacify me. Or when I had a two-steps-forward-one-step-back moment, while taping my knee with that miraculous tape (Kenesio! Yaaas!!), said therapist would tell me this is expected, as the cluelessness was clearly plastered all over my face. Sometimes, the pain was more than I could take, it was hand-held with a smile and a smooth transition to another strengthening exercise. These peeps don’t get enough credit, but when you are going through a recovery journey, the physio therapist is more than just that, she/he becomes your person.
This is a better-late-than-never thank you post. I’m so glad you were there to help me laugh through tears, celebrate each step forward, or even let me feel the sulky sullen days, where you quietly went about the session. Thank you for understanding. Thank you for helping build my strength back. I’m grateful I have been blessed with such 360-degree support that healed me back to good health.