Mission

My own experiences first as a young athlete, then a 3x surgery and rehabilitation patient, and finally as a former University of Michigan Rehabilitation Technician have illuminated how many important factors go unaddressed in pre and post operative care.

Research shows and I’ve felt first hand the dramatic difference in subjective experience/objective outcome when a patient is informed vs. uninformed on elements of health beyond their immediate orthopedic injury. Holistic and functional educational approaches give autonomy to the patient and prepare people to heal themselves.

Encouraging patients in self-determination grows their self-efficacy—where patients believe their own actions affect outcomes. When professionals partner this encouragement with education on holism ideas such as nutrition, sleep, and mental and physical pain to expect after surgery, people are more likely to adopt and maintain these proper health behaviors.

In 2017 I tore almost every ligament in my left knee entering my senior year high school basketball season. I was told I’d walk with a limp forever. Without self-efficacy fueling my thousands of hours of rehabilitation the following four years, I think that would have been true. I feel so lucky to be able to use my body again in fulfilling ways: yoga, strength training, hiking, swimming, biking, and gardening.

Still I wonder how my current knowledge on nutrition, sleep, and mental health as these subjects pertain to recovery, could’ve further improved my surgical experiences and outcomes had I been aware then.