Learning to Walk Again !

I am sure none of us remember how we learnt to walk. It has been few million years since our ancestors decided not to scamper on four limbs and stand upright. What is startling is that the process walking made so simple by nature. As a toddler we never even think about how we are going to stand up on two legs and walk. Everything is already programmed into the system and are simply executed at the right time. I suddenly feel I've completely forgotten how to walk. Every step I take makes me feel like I am re-learning it all again. 3 weeks of minimal use of my right leg has resulted in a lot of muscular atrophy. Human anatomy is an amazing piece of inteligent design, well should I call it "Intelligent Design" or "Evolution" ? How our muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones work together more than that how are we able to control them subconciously. I realised this when I tried to moved my leg around without assistance.

Since the surgery I've always been using my left leg or my hands for assistance to move my right leg around. I didn't try moving my leg without assistance fearing that I would hurt it more, in fact, but not moving I was actually hurting in a different way. I was losing the ability to control the muscles so that each move is graceful and without much pain. Recently I tried to lift my leg from the ground lying flat on the ground and I couldn't in the first few attempts. The reason; I had simply forgotten how it is done. I was able to the same thing with my left leg. Now, just instructing my brain to lift the left leg was good enough to get the job done. While, when I tried the same thing with the right leg it couldn't execute it. I tried different things like contracting the quads, contracting muscles around the knee cap and having my ankle stiff, nothing worked. After sometime I got the hang of it,though. I was easily able to do the leg raises with very little discomfort. I was truely puzzled at this un-learning aspect of the brain. Goes to show that it does take too long to forget things that come naturally to you.

My leg ROM is at 110 degrees after about 3 1/2 weeks after surgery. I am told that's good :-)