What better way to start the year than with a story of resilience! For this month’s clinician’s spotlight, we catch up with physiotherapist Meghan Straub who is still on her own personal journey of rehabilitation. Here is Meghan’s story:
The Injury
Fall 2020 – Leaving work one day, I had to dodge a vehicle driving the wrong way and fell. As soon as I had fallen, I knew that I had broken my wrist quite badly. My wrist was bent in a very weird way and I was in a lot of pain. The surgeons weren’t sure whether I’d need surgery so they tried to replace the bones and correct my deformity. I was placed in a large cast.
Road to rehabilitation
On a weekly basis, I had to return to the hospital for x-rays, to meet with the surgeons and to adjust my cast. As
an active physical therapist, the hardest part was that I had to stop working, driving, and of course, I was forced to avoid any physical activity in order to prevent the fracture from displacing. This was all happening during peak COVID and lockdowns, which meant I was unable to see family and friends or do most social activities, which was very frustrating. I had to learn to ask others for help, accept my new limitations and re-learn how to do most activities of daily living one-handed, with pain. Thankfully, after repeating this process for over 7 weeks, my bones were healed enough that my cast was taken off and I began to wear a splint for several more weeks. By winter 2020, I was able to start physiotherapy to make my wrist more mobile and stronger. Yes, the irony of a physical therapist in physical therapy never grows old. After months of hard work, I was ready to go back to work. Things were not completely back to normal, however. I had to work with a brace and I also had to learn to work through the new limits of my wrist joint.
Today, although my wrist is far from perfect and I am still experience pain, my wrist joint recovery has really come along.
Throughout it all, I’m thankful to have been surrounded by my amazing support system.