The Underrated Magic of Walking

Healing from surgery through walking.

Jenna Goldsmith
4 min readApr 8, 2024

Almost two months ago, I had bilateral breast reduction surgery.

It’s an out-patient procedure, so I was home that evening bandaged and a little loopy from the pain-meds. To help with the healing process, I had to limit my physical activity, especially anything that involved heavy lifting or reaching above my head.

While the first week or so, I let myself be a complete couch potato. It did take a while for the anesthetic to clear my system, so I felt pretty dopey for a while. But once I started getting my energy back, I took stock of what I could do to move my body.

Most of the yoga poses I love were off the table, though I did manage to do some lower body stretches.

One thing I could do, and perfectly at my own pace, was walk.

Actually, getting up and walking is a part of the healing process that’s encouraged.

It’s something I could get behind, even if it was my only option at the time. Also, because I’m not sure what else I would want to do.

I’m going to say something slightly controversial: I hate running.

I’ve always hated running.

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