Crickethip, I like your doctor's approach to starting with just one session and giving at least a day in between to see how your body reacts. 3 or 4 weeks sounds awfully early to me though.....especially if you are talking about a full hour of massage treatment. That's a long time to be on your feet. 8 weeks is definitely kinder to you....and if you lose clients who can't or won't wait for you, that is still preferable to putting your clients first and jeopardizing your long-term recovery goals.
The one thing I have found the very hardest to recover from....and I guess perhaps I never will....is the difficulty with being on my feet for extended periods of time. I was pleased to be able to handle 20 minute waits with relative ease at Disney World a few weeks ago. But stretching past 20 minutes gets progressively more uncomfortable. I was on my feet for over two hours this morning, helping out at the coffee tent at a fly-in. My hips...the bursa areas, the IT band areas, my lower back and glute areas....none of them are happy with me. I can handle several hours of walking with just a few rest stops, or a couple hours of bike-riding with no trouble. But just standing in one place....not good.
If trying to mimic the mechanics of your work puts too much strain on soft tissue, it will only impede your return. As you phase in, go very slowly. Committing yourself to a full hour at the beginning of your phase-in is risky, I think. Better a week or so of 15 minutes once or twice a day, and see how that feels. Then build up to half hour sessions. And so on. I am basing this based on what I know a massage therapist does when she works on me. I often find myself wondering how she can do this work for long without harming herself.
And a client base changes for many reasons....if you lose clients....you will find new ones. I am certain of this.
Sharon
United States
Take care and I'll be looking forward to following your recovery thread.
