History Main / PhysicalTherapyPlot

In spite of their current situation though, all hope is not lost. They can regain their mobility and the ability to do what they've done before, with help of a physical therapist. Sometimes, a character won't go through with it at first because TherapyIsForTheWeak. They might salvage their pride and try to live a normal life with their limitations. But after a while, their inabilities may get to them and they decide enough is enough; they want to become the same normal person they were before and agree to the therapy.

The character will have to dig down deep to find the motivation to get through this. They work twice as hard as before and show some real progress. In the end, after some ups and downs, they'll make it. They will have gained their abilities to move and walk again. They can talk as well as they could before. They'll be their same old selves again, filled with a newfound confidence that if they got through this, they can get through anything.

** While it's never actually seen on-screen and isn't as important to the overall narrative, Hayate also attended physical therapy to regain mobility in her legs around the same time once [[ArtifactOfDeath the cause of her paralysis]] was destroyed. The fourth Megami Sound Stage actually takes place on the ten year anniversary of her completing her rehabilitation.
* In ''Anime/JoseeTheTigerAndTheFish'', Tsuneo undergoes one after a car crash when he tries to save Josee. He suffers from HeroicBSOD for some time until he finds resolve to recover. One of the scenes shows Josee, Hayato, and Mai seeing Tsuneo finally be able to walk on his own, thus enabling him to study abroad.

* ''ComicBook/TheOracleCode'': Barbara ends up at a center that is supposed to help her and other kids with their physical therapy and independence, but the real plot centers around the way that kids there who won't be missed by people outside seem to disappear. Barbara uncovers a hidden basement were the kids are being experimented on without their consent to try and "fix" them.

* ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'': Bruce Wayne's spine is crippled by Bane, then Bruce is thrown into the same Middle-Eastern prison as Bane was. In this case, all it takes to bring Bruce back up to full strength and will is a good whack on the back (resetting the offset vertebrae), and a self-imposed re-training regimen.

** After Cinderpaw breaks her leg, Jaypaw decides to try and heal her. She struggles to catch up to her siblings and after she hurts her leg a second time, he gets frustrated with Leafpool's approach to healing her. By now, Cinderpaw has become too cautious to move, so Jaypaw and has her exercise. He teaches her to swim in order to strengthen her leg, and by the end of the healing process, she has finally become a warrior.
** Briarpaw breaks her spine after being crushed by a fallen tree. As Briarlight, she's managed to stay alive by doing constant physical exercises to keep herself strong, though emotionally she must now deal with a jealous sister and an overly-doting mother. She never fully heals but finds a niche for herself by helping out with medicine cat duties.
* In Creator/MartinCaidin's novel ''Cyborg'', Colonel Steve Austin loses both legs and his left arm in a hideous aircraft crash, and is fitted with artificial limbs that turn him into a [[Cyborg bionic super-soldier]]. But he still has to learn how to use those new limbs, which is a very long and arduous process, made worse by his resentment that the Office of Special Operations, which provided the money for his rebuilding, now regards him as their property and plans to use him as a secret agent instead of a combat pilot and astronaut. His fear that [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul he's lost some of his humanity in the process]] doesn't help matters.

* Thoroughly explored in ''Series/BreakingBad'': DEA Agent Hank Schrader is grievously wounded by two assassins and briefly comatose; when he wakes up he needs rigorous physical therapy to relearn how to walk, a process that takes up almost two full seasons. At first, Hank is very self-pitying and borderline verbally abusive to his wife Marie, but after becoming convinced the drug manufacturer "Heisenberg" is still at large, he applies himself harder to his therapy, eventually able to walk again (albeit with a limp he carries through the rest of the series).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': At the end of Book 3, Korra gets poisoned with mercury and nearly dies. Though the direct danger is eliminated when [[spoiler: the majority of]] the substance is removed from her system by metalbenders, she is left stuck to a wheelchair and [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome severely traumatized]]. In Book 4, a WholeEpisodeFlashback shows how she struggles through revalidation. Even when she is able to walk again, her [=PTSD=] still severely impacts her bending capabilities.

** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', Rhodey's armor gets deactivated during the airport battle while he's in the air, and the subsequent fall leaves him paraplegic. This also reinforces Tony's anger toward Steve and the other Avengers who rejected the Sokovia Accords, as Rhodey was chasing Sam when it happened. At the end of the movie, Tony is helping Rhodey try to relearn walking, but by the time of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Rhodey makes do with wearing the leg portion of his armor to walk. Surprisingly, it's actually Tony who is more outwardly bitter about the whole situation.

** In ''Film/DoctorStrange'', Stephen Strange is a smug neurosurgeon whose hands are severely injured in a car crash, leaving him unable to continue doing surgery. He starts doing therapy to regain his dexterity while going through an emotional meltdown. His therapist encourages him with the story of Jonathan Pangborn, a paraplegic who managed to regain the use of his legs. Pangborn reveals that he fell in with the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, but decided to use that magic to walk again rather than continue learning the mystic arts. This sets Strange on the path to becoming a sorcerer himself.