Albert Einstein once said that genius was 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration. If I’m allowed to paraphrase him, recovery from an orthopedic injury is 10 percent due to the surgical procedure and 90 percent because of the rehabilitation procedure. I recently went under the surgeon’s knife for an ACL reconstruction – the Anterior Cruciate Ligament is the main weight-bearing ligament in your body. It allows your knee to support your body weight and is responsible for holding you steady when you make any sudden twisting movement, especially in the course of a playing a sport.

Well, to cut a long story short, I injured myself on the racquetball court and went out of action for a while before my doctor decided that I needed an arthroscopic surgery. The actual procedure took around 3 hours, but my rehab program, 8 months down the line, is still going strong. It was slow progress at first – your first goal is to throw away the crutches at the end of three weeks during which you work on regaining range of motion and flexibility in your knee, after which you graduate to using the exercycle and the treadmill at the gym with the guidance of a physiotherapist.

At the end of 60 days, my doctor was very pleased at the progress I had made, all thanks to my physio routine. The point I’m trying to make here is that not all patients recover the same way after a corrective surgical procedure. In fact, the recovery process depends on a variety of factors including:

• Your mental state of health: It’s all in the mind folks; if you want to get better so bad you can taste it, you will literally will yourself to do so. No matter how much pain you’re in, no matter how many setbacks you face, no matter how many naysayers who discourage your efforts, you must adopt a positive frame of mind.
• Your determination to stick with the rehab program: It is definitely not going to be easy to push your body to go through the routines especially when you’re in a lot of pain. But you must stay focused and continue with it, because that’s the only way you’re going to get better. Remember though to be careful not to overdo it or you risk injuring yourself again.
• Your motivation to get back to normal: Anytime you feel like skipping your rehab and wallowing in bed feeling sorry for yourself, remember why you underwent the surgery in the first place. If it was your desire to play sports again, then focus on being on the field or court again so that you’re able to find the determination to continue.
• Your level of satisfaction: There will come a time when you feel stronger, when you think you’re back to normal. But if you’ve been working out regularly for the past few months, it’s best to continue to sustain this schedule. In fact, the stronger and more flexible you become, the less chances you have of injuring yourself again. So don’t be satisfied with reaching a particular point of recovery; instead, make your physiotherapy a regular part of your life.

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