She said I had “thumbs of steel”.  Steel? I resemble that remark. Then she started describing me as having trained in the Tower of London- and I laughed, possibly a little too loudly and probably too wickedly.

Maree went through a total knee replacement a while back and it’s fair to say it had been a less than optimal result. Her knee was (in technical terminology): sticky, dicky and as stiff as an old boot left in the sun.  As a result, she found it hard to go up and down steps or do a walk around lambton park with her beloved furball doggo.

My job, as a well-trained physio with hardened thumbs, was to get her dodgy knee moving.

Bending, straightening and muscular mobility were in order. And even more important was the strength that would support her new bionic knee.

And yep- it was hard work. Sometimes, we physios have to get things moving and that can be pretty uncomfortable for the patient but in her last session Maree said,  “It’s painful, but it feels so much better afterwards.”

I resisted the urge to say that terrible physio cliche ‘no pain, no gain’ and instead said “that’s the goal, turn that frown upside down”. Like the doofus I am.

I really like this patient, she is super smart, funny and makes wicked soda bread. It makes my heart happy when I see how far she has been able to progress. It’s a long game, giving a knee replacement some WD40 treatment. But when it happens it reminds me I’ve got the best job in the world. Helping patients like Maree makes the steel thumbs remarks totally worth it.

If you’d like to get your body moving and enjoy silly physio cliches, book an appointment today.