Talk of physical therapy has been talked about a lot more lately than it used to be. I know many people who casually talk about how they were at their appointment and honestly, that's about it. The idea of physical therapy has always been left up to my imagination until I needed to start going myself.
I'm still in physical therapy, building up strength in my left leg after having ACL reconstruction surgery last year. I thought that post-surgery healing would be the hardest part, but in reality, therapy has been the most difficult part for me.
Each time I walk into my physical therapist's office, I know I need to have 100 percent of myself prepared for the one hour I will be working out. Most of the time I know I will be in pain the next couple days because of the single hour I am there. But the reason behind the pain is that my body is relearning its capabilities and muscles that haven't been used in a long time are being used too.
It's important to think positively about yourself in all aspects of your life (self-love duh), but the power of your brain and its connection to what you can do physically is incredible. When I first started jumping for the first time, it was hard to retrain my brain to think I can do it. I mean, it was stuck in the mentality that I couldn't jump because I wasn't able to for a long long time. The coaches also make sure to refer to any injury in a positive way, which definitely helps me believe in myself.
My knee is called my "newer" knee because, in reality, it has a new part to it. It's stronger than the other one because it was modified medically. In every sense, it is newer than my other one and even in the way it feels. This has helped me think of any setbacks that I have in a more positive light. These setbacks are real opportunities to get better, or get stronger, or get the chance to start over.
It's crazy that it really took me having to train my brain and body after an injury to realize that we have more power with our minds than we tend to think. It's something I know I'm grateful for learning and I'm thankful for realizing it now rather than later in life.
