A Lesson in Healing

Well, this week's health lesson became a little more personal than I had planned.

A little over a week ago, what started as abdominal pain quickly turned into an emergency appendectomy. One minute life was moving along normally, and the next I was in a hospital gown being told my appendix needed to come out.

Thankfully, everything went well. But the experience has given me an unexpected reminder about something I talk about in the office all the time:

Feeling better and being healed are not necessarily the same thing.

As the days passed after surgery, I started feeling more like myself. The pain decreased. Walking became easier. Energy started returning. And naturally, my brain began saying, "Alright, we're good. Let's get back to normal."

My body had a slightly different opinion.

That is because healing continues long after the most noticeable symptoms begin to disappear.

And this isn't unique to surgery.

We see the same thing with the spine, joints, muscles, and movement patterns.

When something hurts, your body is incredibly good at adapting around it. You move differently. Muscles tighten. Other areas take on additional workload. Your nervous system finds ways to keep you functioning.

Then the pain improves.

The temptation is to assume everything is fixed.

But pain disappearing doesn't automatically mean normal movement has returned. It doesn't necessarily mean tissue has fully recovered. And it certainly doesn't mean the compensations your body created have disappeared overnight.

Sometimes the hardest part of recovery is respecting the space between "I feel better" and "I'm ready."

Over the past week, I've had to take some of my own advice: walk, move appropriately, listen to what my body is telling me, and resist the urge to jump several steps ahead simply because I'm feeling better.

Our bodies are remarkably good at healing when we give them the right environment to do it.

Movement matters.

Rest matters.

Nutrition and hydration matter.

Proper mechanics matter.

And sometimes patience matters just as much as everything else.

So whether you're recovering from an injury, dealing with an irritated joint, working through a stubborn movement problem, or apparently having your appendix unexpectedly removed...

Don't judge your recovery solely by how you feel today.

Pay attention to how your body is functioning.

Symptoms may quiet down quickly. Healing usually has a longer conversation in mind.

And yes, I'm still working on taking my own advice! :-)

Yours in health,

Dr. Orozco