Have you ever felt amazing one day after PT… and then totally paid for it the next?
Yeah, me too.
It’s like you finally start to feel like yourself again—you get up, do a few loads of laundry, run some errands, maybe even make dinner—and then bam. The next day your knee’s angry, your body’s wiped out, and you’re sitting there wondering what you did wrong.
Here’s the truth: you didn’t mess up. You’re healing.
And those moments that make you stop? They’re not punishments. They’re pivots.
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Back when I was still walking around on my bone-on-bone knee, I noticed something strange. Every time someone at work would ask, “How’s your knee?” and I answered, “It hurts,”… it got worse.
I know that sounds weird. I’m not saying I made it up or was pretending. The pain was real. But the moment I gave it voice? It almost felt like it doubled.
Eventually, I stopped saying “it hurts.”
Instead, I’d say, “I’m actually really looking forward to having it replaced.”
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Have you ever seen A Bug’s Life? It’s an animated Disney/Pixar film, and there’s this one scene where a leaf falls onto an ant trail. The lead ant freezes. He panics because the path he was following suddenly disappears. Then another ant calmly says, “It’s okay, I’ll help you,” and walks him around the leaf so he can keep going.
Well, in your knee replacement recovery, I’m gonna be that calm ant—the one who says, “It’s OK, I’ll help you with that.” I want to reassure you that what you’re experiencing is completely normal and actually a healthy part of your body’s healing process.
You go to sleep on surgery day, wake up with a new knee, and suddenly your brain can’t find the path it once knew. You know how to walk, lift your leg, or get up from the floor—but your body just doesn’t respond. It’s like a leaf dropped over your old movement pattern, and your brain can’t see the trail anymore.
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I know what it’s like in the middle of knee replacement recovery when you’re wondering if your body is ever going to feel normal again. I’ve been there—and I’d love to help you with this.
When I was early on in my recovery, maybe 3 weeks out, I went to physical therapy with my walker. I remember watching a man walk to the back completely unassisted. Turns out, he was one week after surgery 😱.
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