Enthusiasm aside, the tedium of those first few weeks was tough. She spent them maneuvering around her apartment in crutches and “literally relearning how to bend and raise my leg,” she says. Then began the slow process of reactivating her leg muscles, like her quads and glutes, first by just flexing them while seated, next involving resistance bands and eventually isometric moves like wall sits and lunges. And these weren’t your run-of-the-mill 10- or 20-second holds. “We built up to a minute at a time, five sets, because of her ability, as an athlete, to withstand the fatigue and burning of the muscle,” Jason Park, PT, DPT, one of Watkins’ physical therapists and the director of performance physical therapy at MMVP, tells SELF. It was as grueling to Watkins as it sounds, if mostly because of the glacial pace. “I never realized how impatient I was until this injury,” she says, laughing.
By the second month, “my North Star was just being able to drive again,” she says. She was getting stir-crazy in her apartment, and no offense to her parents, who stayed with her in those first weeks post-injury to help out, but she craved her independence. Instantly, I’m reminded that JuJu, the basketball phenom, is also JuJu, the college junior.
It’s what makes her unwavering commitment to rehab all the more impressive, Dr. Park says: “She’s taken it as seriously, if not more so, than athletes much older.” While mustering through those early days may have been a bit of a drag, each one counted as a step forward to Watkins, who approached them with the mental intensity she’s known for on the court.
Once Watkins hit months three and four post-injury, she could pour her physical energy into rehab too. She was able to start moving faster, jumping again, powering up in the weight room. And in the past couple months, short sprints and even some dribbling and shooting have also been on the table. “Whenever we’re doing anything active, I’m excited,” she says.
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