I’m going to tell you how my surgical knee just got straightened out, thanks to something that conventional medicine considers a cult — Structural Integration, aka rolfing.
When I was having the first knee done, I asked my doctor if rolfing was something I could do after the surgery. “You should do it before the surgery,” he urged me. So. I borrowed the money to get it done (I will eventually pay her back. I swear) and it was a rousing success. I mean, I could tell if I’d done this 10 years ago, I probably wouldn’t have needed the surgery. And when I was in recovery, my PT team was amazed at my progress. I walked out of the rehab center without a walker or cane.
What was really nice about it was, I gained real confidence in my body’s ability to heal itself, given the right tools. Because I gotta tell you, having your knee chiseled and then getting a new one hammered into your tibia seems pretty damned primitive.
The second surgery was very different. Because of the years my leg was bent in the wrong direction, my recovery was difficult and slow, and it even affected my good leg and hip. Two months later, I still couldn’t find a position that would let me sleep all night, and my leg hurt constantly. (I did mention they don’t give you many painkillers, right?)
I was pretty depressed and as my PT pointed out, I was losing bend in the surgical leg. I also couldn’t straighten it out, which was kind of the point of the surgery. The PT kept trying to push it back down, but the pain was too intense. (I have a high pain threshold, in case you wondered.) At this point, I was even considering something called MUA — manipulation under anesthesia, where they put you under and bend your leg all the way. But my PT said it was too early to consider that.
So I went back to my rolfer for one session only (normally, they do 10, but this was more of a tuneup).
We chatted while he was working on me. He’s getting married in a couple of weeks, they’ve saving to buy a house. Etc. I told him about the Lemon Twigs. He said they sounded like a band he would like.
“Your leg is pretty crooked,” he noted. Now, one of the things about the pain is that I get what feels like electric jolts all over the area, and large areas of skin are acutely sensitive. It hurts just to have a sheet over it.
So I steeled myself. “Don’t be surprised if I scream,” I said. But I didn’t. Somehow, even though he started working on the area right away, it didn’t hurt. And then he worked on releasing scar tissue around each and every staple scar on my knee – 20 or so. “I really wish they used glue instead of staples,” he grumbled.
A few days later, and I’m feeling so much better. Even my PT was impressed. “Your swelling has gone way down,” he said. “And your leg is almost straight again!”
There’s still some pain, but it’s tolerable. Yay, Ida Rolf!
