Aaron's Status

10:22 am

It takes longer than you think

Maybe that’s an obvious statement. I first hurt my back on June 2nd, but it was not so bad, so I kept climbing twice a week. On July 17 I talked to my doctor and we tested for arthritis and I committed to physical therapy.

I started PT on July 26th and began doing exercises every day. On August 18th, I ignored a fair bit of pain, took a heavy dose of Advil, and climbed anyway. That was the single dumbest move I’ve made during this time and it undoubtedly set me back weeks.

Still, I have not missed a day of PT exercises since the 26th, which puts me at seven weeks and five days of PT. I do think that the exercises are paying off, although it takes a long time before the results of stretching are apparent.

Not what you can’t do, but what you can

It’s taken a lot of time and thought for me to reframe this journey not as a barrier to doing the things I want to do (as much as it may be, in the near term) but rather as the path toward doing even more. There is no doubt that improved flexibility, strength, and mindfulness are going to make me a better climber in the end. Doing the work is the point.

Beginning to plan

I’m starting to be able to trust that I will be able to do something in the future, even though I still have some anxiety about it. A couple of weeks ago I made plans to go photographing with a friend and at that moment I wasn’t sure if I could just walk around for an afternoon, like normal people do.

Luckily her schedule is nuts so it’s still coming up and now I feel more confident that I can actually do it, but it sucks to feel like you can’t even plan to do something later. Injury can steal your hope, and that’s what you have to watch out for.

Just because you can’t commit to a specific date doesn’t mean you won’t heal. And for me, the turnaround from “it still bothers me to walk” to “I can climb again” can be just a day or two.