When I was growing up, my mom worked as a librarian in the school that my sister and I attended. I have some very happy memories from that time, but I digress. As the librarian, she was well-liked by all the students and faculty, being responsible for story-time for the younger children, and helping the older children with research for projects. Her job was fairly active, climbing ladders to get books from the higher shelves and pulling down boxes of materials regularly. I didn't know it at the time, but one such box was responsible for my first lessons as a personal trainer. The box was out of the way, and other things had to be moved to even reach it. It was an awkward lift, and the second that she did it, my mom knew that something was wrong. She had hurt her back. The pain was there right away, and lasting, and it got worse. By the second week, she knew that she wasn't getting better and made an appointment with her doctor. She was referred to a back specialist after the x-rays had revealed that she had slipped a disc in her spine. They had to operate, and it took her a few months of physical therapy to feel like her old self again.
A few years later, she hurt her back for a second time lifting groceries out of the back of the car. She had re-injured the same part of her back. My mom felt miserable after the second injury, probably worse than the first time, because she knew what she was in for the second time around. It didn't help that the injury occurred doing something that she had considered to be easy. But during that second stint of physical therapy; two things happened. The first thing was that the pain and suffering that she went through gave her the motivation to do whatever she needed, to ensure that she didn't go through anything like that again. And the second thing was a conversation that she had had with the physical therapist after she asked what she needed to do, to make sure that she never had to go through that ordeal. He asked her what exercises she had been doing during the time between the two operations. Her response was that she had not been exercising at all, aside from taking walks with the family dog. The therapist told her that her mistake was that she had not kept up with the exercises that she had learned during physical therapy. She didn't make that mistake twice. Since her second back surgery more than twenty years ago, she has exercised five days a week. Over time she has progressed from the basic therapy exercises to a much more challenging routine. Not only has she not suffered another back injury, but she is by far the most active and fit of her life.
My mom learned some valuable lessons, and through her experience, I did too. Always lift and move appropriately; even easy tasks are difficult and dangerous with poor form and technique. Exercise to stay healthy; the best results come from consistency and a gradual progression of difficulty. Finally, being released from physical therapy does NOT mean that you are fully recovered (especially if an insurance company is justifying expenditures!), it only means that you are healed enough to gradually resume normal activity.
And for everyone that is scrambling for a last minute gift: give the gifts of health and happiness. Buy her a gift package for beginner's yoga, water aerobics, or a gift certificate for a new pair of running shoes. A deep tissue massage is always nice for anyone who is already active. A consultation with a corrective exercise practitioner can be the next step to resume the healing process for any that did not complete their rehabilitation process.
I'd like to take a moment to thank my mom for everything that she has done for me:
Thank you for all the things you have done, for all that you have sacrificed, and especially
for all of the patience that you have had. Love you. Happy Mother's Day!
No comments:
Post a Comment