By Alexander Germanis
In his 1888 work, Twilight of the Idols, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote, “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Although it’s meaning is simple, it has been a subject of discussion for more than 100 years, most likely because believing in its message has inspired countless people to overcome adversity.
Perseverance against sometimes overwhelming odds can be a difficult thing to conjure, especially when enduring physical pain; but with the right guidance and support, perseverance may not only pay off, but it may also build confidence.
When recovering from surgery or trying to bounce back from an injury, that guidance and support can be found at Plaza Physical Therapy in Davenport and Eldridge. The skilled therapists there can, in turn, help you find that strength and, just as importantly, that confidence you need to return to life.
Forced Timeout
Our developing years are ones filled with learning and growth, errors, and setbacks. Unfortunately, sometimes those setbacks can knock someone down, often physically, for a considerable amount of time.
Student athlete Kate Scholl, now a senior softball player at Bettendorf High School, was a sophomore when she experienced her painful setback.
“I was playing basketball and I tore my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and both my meniscuses while at a practice,” she recalls. “I had to get surgery by Dr. Kristyn Darmafall and that took about nine or 10 months of recovery.”
Dr. Darmafall, orthopaedic surgeon at Orthopaedic Specialists in the Quad Cities, shares that Kate had a right knee arthroscopy with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using a quadricep tendon autograft. During this process, Dr. Darmafall made small incisions around the kneecap to remove the damaged ACL. She then harvested a small portion of the quadricep tendon and grafted it in to replace the ACL.
“She also had a medial meniscus repair and a partial lateral meniscectomy,” Dr. Darmafall adds. A meniscectomy is utilized when the crescent-shaped cartilage of the meniscus essentially cannot be repaired. This is in the vast majority – 75 percent – of cases. The meniscectomy involves trimming off the damaged portion of the meniscus; this removal actually prevents the cartilage from tearing further.
The surgery, however, was simply the first real step in Kate’s recovery journey.
Coaching off the Field
For Kate, that first step was followed by many more steps, and jumps, and stretches. Physical therapy, while not as direct an intervention as surgery, is no less essential to the overall process of healing. “Speaking as a surgeon who performs reconstructive or repair surgery,” says Dr. Darmafall, “the postoperative physical therapy is one of the most crucial contributors to recovery and positive outcomes.”
Aiding Kate through her therapy was Plaza Physical Therapy Clinic Manager Matt Rokes, DPT, ATC/L, CSCS. For the seven months immediately following her surgery, Kate worked with Matt on regaining her range of motion. “We worked on things like flexion and extension, just so I could be able to start walking around, start going up and down stairs – just so I was confident doing that,” Kate says.
While this portion of her recovery was underway, Dr. Darmafall continued to check in. “Once surgery is complete, I see patients regularly until they have been fully released back to activities, whether that is work or athletics,” Dr. Darmafall states. “For an ACL surgery, it is commonly six months to a year of follow-ups every few months. Through working as a patient care team, we draw out a concise plan for progression with milestones to meet through recovery to ensure we are successful in the desired results. The timeline is based on individual goals in addition to biologic recovery.”
With her patient care team behind her, Kate managed to pass her first milestone of recovery and graduated to strength training to rebuild the athlete within her.
“As I went further into physical therapy, we started strengthening my quads and my hamstring to give my ACL extra support,” Kate says. When she passed the tests to show she was ready for more, she moved to jogging and more balance and stability exercises. From there it was on to regaining her lateral movement and jumping abilities. While rebuilding her strength and skill, Matt was, as Kate says, “building up my mental confidence as well.”
Setback to Comeback
Matt continues to coach Kate through her strength training to this day, something for which Kate is truly appreciative. “I definitely am glad that I’m with my physical therapist, because he knows my body,” Kate assures. “He knows when I need a break or when he can push me to go a little bit harder.
Even when setbacks start to get Kate down, a session at Plaza Physical Therapy is like throwing fresh fuel on a dying fire. “If a tweak in my knee gives me a setback, we go back to the basics to build up my confidence again and get back to what we were doing toward the end of my recovery.”
Learning more about her own body during this process taught Kate something else about herself. “Going to therapy has been a really good contributor in helping me in my future,” Kate reveals. “I want to pursue some career in athletic training. I want to take what I have learned to help other people with it in my future. Going to PT at Plaza with Matt has sparked my interest in that career.”
So, when Matt gives her an exercise to work on at therapy or at home, Kate has taken a vested interest in what that exercise targets, and how and why it does what it does. Learning more about her own body has made her want to learn for the benefit of others.
Perhaps the best thing Kate has learned, however, has little to do with stretches, lateral movements, or sprinting drills. She has learned the most effective physical therapist builds up far more than physical strength. “Matt helps me and lifts me up and is very encouraging,” she shares. “Also, my family around me helps me with my confidence, knowing I put in all this work.”
Therein lies the keystone of the recovery arch: knowing she has worked hard herself, harder than anyone else in her journey. “I need to trust and have confidence that my knee is good, it’s strong, it’s stable,” she declares. “I need to know, when I’m in any situation that I’m nervous of, I just have to think back to how much I’ve worked on it and that now it is a strong knee.”
Growth
When someone incurs an injury, especially to a major extremity, it is not uncommon to lose strength in that limb because muscle can weaken so quickly. Rebuilding that muscle is essential to any recovery from injury. Without that added and improved strength, a full comeback is simply not possible.
But muscle growth is far from the only thing Kate has experienced or learned during her ongoing road of recovery at Plaza Physical Therapy. For her, her physical comeback represents merely a fraction of her overall growth.
“Going through this ACL recovery has helped me grow as a person – teaching me patience, trust, and confidence,” she reflects. “And everything happens for a reason. Even though this has been a setback, it has really helped me come back to be a better player and better person.”
Plaza Physical Therapy is located at 3385 Dexter Court, Suite 301 in Davenport, Iowa. If you are recovering from an injury or surgery and would like to make an appointment with one of our therapists, please give us a call us at (563) 344-6645 or visit us on the web at www.plazaphysicaltherapy.com.
