Gimme Something (or Someone) to Believe in

Aside from my own experience with a hip fracture, one of the inspirations for this blog has been my mother.  And it is not one of those my-mom-raised-me-and-9-siblings-on-her-own stories.  Instead, she is one of us; she is one of the bruised and battered.

After years of suffering from knee pain, my mom finally had knee replacement surgery last year.  But even after a year that included a few months of PT, she wasn't walking any better than before the surgery.  In fact, she may have been walking worse.  On the bright side, her knee pain was better - but her hip mobility was awful, her legs ached, and she was wobbling around on cane like a woman 20 years her senior.

After my positive experience with Pilates, I suggested she find an instructor in her area.  And somewhat to my surprise, she did.  Even more, she has stuck with it for the past 4 months and seen incremental improvements in strength, mobility, and pain.  What she really gained is something more than I would have anticipated - and perhaps something she needed more than what physically Pilates can give you.  Now I can tout the value of Pilates or any other form of exercise until the cows come home and I can say how much better you will feel but only an interpersonal relationship between two human beings can describe what my mother has gotten out of Pilates.

Her real benefit: someone who believes in her.  As we all know, recovery is a long, lonely road.  Even for those of us who have lots of friends and family, we can feel like strangers in our own homes because of what we are going through.  No one really understands.  They don't really understand what progress means to us and what a lack thereof does to set us back mentally and emotionally.  My mom, now, has someone who remembers what she could do when she first started and what she can do now.  She has someone who gets excited when she reaches a milestone.  And those are all very important things.

The most important, however, is the confidence it brings her.  Recovery, by my own experience, has a way of bringing about a serious crisis of confidence.  My mom suffered from bad knees for more than 10 years so her confidence, and true belief, in her ability to really get better was probably very, very low.  Now she has a friend who believes she can get better, she can recover, and she can live a better life.  And that is what someone like her Pilates instructor can give.

So I know we can't all afford private trainers but if you can find one or two people to aid in your journey, the mental and emotional benefits will be enormous.  If nothing more, you can use them as resources to answer questions and help you along.  For me, my Pilates instructor and massage therapist has been a great help to me.  Not only has she helped me recover but she has become a friend.  There have also been a few others who I have nothing more than an email relationship.  But it is these big and small touches with humanity that keep us going and help us believe.  We humans are resilient and it is really the interaction we other caring individuals who will carry us through.

So do your best to find someone.  If you are in Minneapolis-St. Paul area, email me and I can make some recommendations.  Or heck I will do it myself.  I am willing to help anyone who is recovering and even just needs someone to lend an ear...

Thanks for reading....