Just a thought about healing and how long it takes.
I had bruised my big toe on a hike in August. The nail fell off somewhere during December. I took this picture on February 20, six months later.
My toenail growing in. Six months of healing
On my recent annual skin check up, my dermatologist said, "that's about right, it takes about a year."
I tore my meniscus in May. My knee was sore and only a little bit swollen. but it didn’t really look injured. It was warm to the touch. It didn’t feel too bad for most activities of daily living. I felt it the most in yoga. I couldn’t put my legs into Padmasana (Lotus Pose). Padmasana had always been a pose I could do fairly easily.
I have had and recovered from many injuries in my yoga life: torn hamstrings, broken foot and a broken wrist. I have learned that injuries take time to heal. Part of the healing process is rest. This may be the hardest part because we want to do something to speed the process up. But, the body knows how to heal and sometimes we just need to get out of the way.
After a period of resting and healing then you can begin the strengthening process and then a little more time has to pass before you can begin gaining full range of motion.
I injured my knee about 9 months ago. It has been getting better. For a while I just let it rest. I didn’t try Padmasana, or any other pose where I felt pain in my knee. I just did other things. Then I started strengthening exercises. These were PT exercises to strengthen the muscles around my knee. I found I could do poses like Upavishta Konasana (Seated Wide Leg Pose). This was good to keep my hips open. Finally I started testing my knee by trying to put it into Vrksasana (Tree Pose) and then Janu Sirsasana (Seated Tree Pose) and Baddha Konasana (Cobbler’s Pose). One of the things that I could not do was Padmasana (Lotus Pose).
Slowly but surely I started working my leg towards Padmasana. Using props to create more space in the knee joint, I actually had my leg in full Lotus recently. I feel pretty confident that by working slowly and steadily with both strengthening and stretching that I will be able to go back to doing full Padmasana.
My legs in Padmasana with a blanket in the knee to create space in the joint. 9 months after tearing my meniscus.
Being able to see the slow process of my toenail has helped me understand and be patient with the slow process of healing inside my knee that I cannot see.
If you have an injury, take care of yourself. The body knows how to heal. We just have to be patient.