The most difficult thing for me in this post-op period is learning my threshold. Which to me means, the limit to where I can successfully accomplish a task without negative consequences either immediate or delayed.
I have, several times crossed my threshold during the last 12 days of recovery. Some of it was just with instinctual movement where I was simply reacting and did not think until after the movement that I should not be doing that. Some of my mistakes were: getting down on my hands and knees to clean up broken glass and carrying a heavy garden basket up. Flight of stairs, trying to vacuum in a straight line without rotating, trying to pull a stubborn weed from the garden... Oh gosh, now that I am writing this, there are a lot of things I should not have done.
The problem is that I have so many “movement options” from all of my training that I can figure out a strategy to accomplish a task. But, I don’t have the integrity of the soft tissue yet to withstand the loads I am placing on my system.
So, last night I was REALLY sore and fatigued. All night I was dreaming that my stitches had come undone and I was right back where I had started!
Today, I am feeling much better and remaining much more cautious. I just keep telling myself, even though I FEEL better I am not better as I am giving myself a full 12 weeks to restore function.
Here is a quick strategy that I am using to make rising from bed easier:
This would also be a good strategy for back pain as well!!
Stay tuned for a day 13 update tomorrow!!