MCL sprain reflections

I sprained my MCL a couple years ago. Two things about that experience have stayed with me. The first: eighty percent of the healing happened in the first week. The remaining twenty percent took another three weeks. Sprains work like so many projects we take on — the first eighty percent comes relatively quickly. The last twenty percent is a different beast. The second: I was fascinated by how the MCL was invisible to me until it wasn’t. Walking straight was fine. But any lateral movement and the muscle screamed. Even attempting a forearm plank — something I’d never have connected to the MCL — lit it up. I thought about this recently when I sprained my upper calf. Normal walking, no problem. The moment I tried to accelerate or push off, it announced itself loudly. It never ceases to amaze me how incredible our body is. So beautifully engineered and so intricately interconnected that we barely notice it when everything works together. And the moment one part breaks down, the whole web…