Sunday, August 5, 2018

I Can't Bend My Knee

It's been almost 4 months since my surgery and I suspect the cauterization of the lining of my knee is the cause for my delayed improvement.  That and not having insurance to cover the cost of physical therapy.  So I'm recovering slower than I should.  However,  I continue to stretch and work on my knee such as riding the bicycle as much as possible.  Which in my head is daily for 25 minutes but usually works out to be more like 3 to 5 times a week.  I am also trying to stay committed to doing yoga on a daily basis but a week ago I did a yoga workshop and they did a lot of child posing.  That consists of sitting on your heels while your knees touch the ground and leaning all the way forward with your arms in front of you, palms on the ground.  We stayed in that pose for quite a while.  Before we started posing, the instructor gave us intention cards. I picked a purple one.  It said, "Let go of your fear".  I was fearing leaning too far back so I instead focused on breathing and allowed myself to stretch even though my knee was not having it.  I kept thinking past the resistance and let it stretch as much as it could or would.  Oh but I paid for it dearly.  For the rest of the day I felt like it was swelling up.   But I spent a lot of time in the river so I think the coolness of the river kept the swelling from getting out of control.  Then a few days later I went to a deprivation float place where they fill a tub with Epsom salts.  I made sure I submerged my knee in the salt waters as much as possible which defeats the purpose of the float because I should be focused on other things than keeping a leg down.  That's not really floating.   But it did what I meant it for, took the swelling away.  No more swelling but still can't bend the knee all the way.  I know it will take time, I will get there.  I just need more child posing.