Ask The Doctor: What Are The Stages Of Recovery?

Episode Overview

Today the focus will not be on post-race recovery, but on post-surgery and post-injury recovery. I have received many questions regarding rehab and physical therapy related to my latest surgery and I will attempt to answer them in this episode as well as give an update on my own recovery journey.

I have had a plethora of injuries in my running and triathlon career as well as some from ski racing. I have had plantar fasciitis, meniscal tear, tendonitis, iliotibial friction band syndrome etc. I have had surgeries as a result of some of these injuries and the most recent one was in April 2022. It was a microfracture surgery to address a cartilage knee injury. I am still recovering from this injury.

I had another knee surgery in 2020 on my knee for a partial ACL tear, cartilage injury and a meniscus tear. I found that I still could not get back to running at full force as there was still some pain. I got a second opinion and the MRI showed a cartilage defect. I took the risk to have another surgery to address the defect in my cartilage in 2022. Surgery is always a risk and one should do a thorough risk benefit ratio before proceeding. I decided to take the risk because I love running for so many reasons. One is the high I get from it, another is the health benefits of running, and last but not least is the community of people.

After the surgery, I had to be on crutches for six weeks. I was lucky that the injury was on a part of my knee that is not load-bearing and so I could put some weight on my toes versus being non-weight bearing. I have learned that rehab is not a linear progression. Everyday is not necessarily better than the day before the goal is steady and progressive improvement.