What My Knee Injury Taught Me
By: Sumera Garcia-Quadri
Dear members, instructors, and peers,
Since January, I’ve been on an intense rehab journey. Just as my jaw pain got better after two long years, I hit a frustrating setback: knee osteoarthritis & tendonitis, and a hip impingement.
Luckily, my childhood Baseball back round, youth coaching tools, and my strength & conditioning and corrective exercise training helped me kickstart my own recovery. Over several months, I moved through stages (often called “Return to Sport”) which has allowed me to begin jumping again (HUGE! for me) and get back to instructing and dancing more regularly.
In a city saturated with stunning clinics, finding the BEST practitioner for your aches and pain is critical, especially if you’re paying out of pocket! Many practitioners are great at hands-on care, but their exercise plans often stop at the basic level. Because many of you are active outside of our seasonal dance and fitness classes, I feel you would benefit from having a practitioner who understands high-level movement progression vs. a rest and wait approach.
Personally, I drive 30 minutes to see a manual osteopath. She’s a personal trainer who overcame a paralyzing back injury and was Olympic weight-lifting over 200lbs while pregnant. While she may not be for everyone, she got my body back into better alignment to reduce the strain on my hip and knee. Within months, I was walking up and down stairs and squatting again with less aches and pain and getting my body back to how it used to look.
If you’re experiencing pain and hoping to return to an active lifestyle OR just trying to stay pain-free, here are 3 tips to finding the best person for you:
Match backgrounds: Look for a rehab person (i.e. Osteo, RMT, Chiro, Physio) who lives an active lifestyle and understands the specific demands of your physical activity. If the person has personally overcome injuries, they may have greater empathy and practical knowledge regarding your recovery timelines.
Ask around: Ask friends and family members who successfully bounced back from debilitating injuries about who helped them recover and their recovery process.
Ask for a plan: Choose a practitioner who conducts a thorough assessment and can create a clear return to activity plan. They should be able to lead you safely through the stages OR refer you to someone at their work - like an experienced trainer who has training in injury recovery, strength and conditioning, and/or corrective exercise.
Every recovery journey looks different, some days will feel good and some days won’t. My hope is that you find the right rehab person to support you through all of it.
Hoping you dance and move for years to come,
Sumera