Rehabilitation
Here in Madrid I am working with 2 physiotherapists. They both specialise in different areas but complement eachother in order to speed up recovery.
1 of them concentrates on the internal nevous system, which after an injury such as mine, becomes affected and slow. This was very clear in my first session. I did a series of tests working first the right side of my body, then the left. It was as if the left hand side of my body was asleep and the tests became extremely frustrating. We are working mainly on Proprioception, which is very important for any athlete. Proprioception is the unconscious perception of movement and spacial orientation arising from stimuli within the body, i.e.. Balance. If you have poor proprioception then you are more likely to become injured and it also limits your performance.
The second physio concentrates on soft tissue; ligaments, tendons and muscles. For the moment we are concentrating on restoring balance throughout the body. When you are injured your brain automatically tries to protect the area, so often if the problem in the foot, it is not uncommon for your hip, neck and back to become affected.
As my surgeon told me, the brakes in my ankle have healed completely, an as there was no soft tissue damage really there is no problem. Now it is a case of re educating the brain and body in order to return to normal function.
