Plateaus are part of the journey. Remaining driven during a plateau can feel impossible. Don’t give up.
It was a crisp morning as I walked into my aquatic physical therapy (PT) appointment last week. While walking into the facility, I looked at my feet and reminded my left foot to position outward. Since my surgery, it’s had the tendency to drift inward. My physical therapist called out from behind me, “Hey Courtney, good morning!” and we strolled in while chatting about our holiday weekend.
During the session, she added a new exercise and asked how I felt I was doing. She then said, “I wasn’t thrilled with your walking today. You’ve been doing so well but I could tell you were struggling a bit this morning. Your limp was a bit more noticeable than it’s been.” Ugh, my heart. I had intentionally been thinking through my form as we walked in, even considering the direction of my feet. I knew she was right though; I had noticed it too but I didn’t want to acknowledge that I was regressing a bit.
I’m not in a total regression. Some things I’m able to do better than before (I can actually squat now) but my left leg is definitely having a hard time with recovery. During my land PT session later in the week, I talked with my other physical therapist about this. In addition to the walking inconsistency, I told her about how hard stairs have been.
We talked about how these plateaus in recovery can be frustrating. I’ve put in so much work and have taken all the right steps toward recovery through multiple PT sessions each week, at-home exercises, constant stretching, and breaks during the work day. As we talked, I explained that I can only walk up five stairs one-foot-after-the-other until my left leg gives up in weakness and my right leg has to take lead.
After discussing this a bit, we did some other quad exercises to help increase my strength. Then, she encouraged me to give myself a micro-goal each week. For example, she told me to increase the numbers of stairs each week by one stair (i.e.: Week 1 six stairs, Week 2 seven stairs, etc.).
That night and the next day, I practiced. “One more,” I told myself as I climbed up. I was so hyper-focused on the challenge that by noon the next day, I made it up the full flight – one foot after the other. I was weeks ahead of my goal… I had completed it. I realized that I was actually experiencing a mental block. I was fearful that the weakness meant that I would fall or push myself too far and have another set-back. As I forced myself out of this mental block, I realized I was testing the endurance of my left leg.
In a previous post, I mentioned that mind-over-matter is BS. I still believe that, however, mental blocks do exist. It’s important to note that you should never push through pain, you should only push to pain. Once you experience pain, you should stop whatever you’re doing. I knew that I wasn’t experiencing pain up the stairs, my left leg was just giving up and I felt like I was lifting dead weight. This weakness could only get stronger by pushing it beyond its comfort level.
I’ve had a lot of conversations with people encountering a health crisis and a common theme is the frustration around plateaus. I know it’s hard. I’m still in this plateau in many areas of my recovery: my walk form isn’t consistent, I have to use my hands to carry my leg over the ledge of my bed each morning, and I struggle with stiffness when I sit or stand for more than 45 minutes. We often want to see immediate big results. We want to sleep through a full night or walk a mile. Let’s place an emphasis on micro-goals to help us get there. Instead of feeling defeated after not sleeping a full night, celebrate a good nap. Instead of trying to walk a mile, walk to your mailbox with intention.
Finding progress during plateaus can feel impossible but I promise it’s there. Set micro-goals and focus on those. Most importantly, remember that a plateau does not mark the end of your journey. A plateau is simply where you are until you get to the next phase. Keep your head up and continue looking ahead. You’ll get there.
