The other day I went out for a morning walk as I often do. Between Vermont St. and New Hampshire St. I cut down Hotel Alley. Something caught my eye at the edge of the pavement sticking up from the dirt. It was a small piece of faded metal and I couldn’t quite make it out so I kicked the clay and sand away and wouldn’t you know it but it was an old-fashioned brass lamp! I bent down and picked it up and did what anyone would do in my situation, I rubbed it. To my surprise, out popped a genie who offered to grant me two wishes. Rather than argue the fact that I was supposed to be granted three wishes I asked for what I imagine most PTs would ask for: a magic wand and a crystal ball.
My patients have heard me make this wish hundreds of times before, especially the ones with particularly difficult diagnoses. I would use the magic wand to make their deficits disappear so they could immediately meet their goals and get back to doing what they want. I would definitely apply the gift of the magic wand to the athletes that I treat with mid-season injuries. It is particularly devastating for a young athlete who is competing for a spot on a team to hear that she may have to miss some time to recover and potentially lose her starting spot on a team she has worked hard to be a part of. Or perhaps even more so to an athlete who is in the midst of a professional career to learn that his livelihood may be in jeopardy while he is sidelined with an injury. If I wielded that magic wand, I could make it all better in the blink of an eye, but that isn’t the case.
In the instances that magic isn’t available, my second wish would have granted me the all-valuable crystal ball. At least then I could let my patients (and their parents and coaches) know exactly when they would be back to 100%. Most professionals involved in sports medicine have a pretty good idea when something is going to recover and can give a pretty good timeline when a sprained ankle is going to be ready for strapping on the cleats and getting back on the field. However, if experience in this arena has taught me anything it is that when dealing with human healing there are just too many variables to be accurate all the time. I’ve seen that sprained ankle that was supposed to be out for 4-6 weeks get back to it in 10 days, and I’ve also had players miss months when it should have only been a couple of weeks.
Ok, so that didn’t actually happen with the genie, but I can assure you that I’ll keep looking for a magic wand and a crystal ball. In the meantime, I’m going to keep doing my best to get my patients back to doing what they love as quickly as possible no matter how difficult the diagnosis and no matter how long it takes.
