PT Routine Shake-Up [8 Wk 2 Day Post-Op]

I passed my 8 week mark on Tuesday and am cruising to 2 months post-op this weekend, on June 14. On Monday I went to PT and pretty much did my whole routine without any pointers, new exercises or even manipulation/ stretching by Drew, my therapist. Even though I did some treadmill time and feel my strides are becoming more even, I was disappointed at the lack of personal attention and was glad that I’d gone down to 2 visits / week. However in yesterday’s PT, Drew decided to mix it up for me, and it felt good to try new challenges, even if it left me whipped afterwards!

First, we skipped the 10 minute warm-up on the bike, since initially this was used to help get back range of motion and in later weeks, loosen up the knee w/o putting too much weight on it. Instead, I did 8 minutes on the Elliptical (Drew said to be sure I was a little tired and breaking a sweat when done), and after some calf and hamstring stretches, it was over to the treadmill. There I did 15 mins of alternating between speed walking and a run. I am gaining lots of confidence here and am sure I could have run longer, but didn’t know what else was in store for me.

The most entertaining, by far, was using the Bosu Ball, which is basically an inflated exercise ball, sliced in half with a hard plastic board across the flat. I had to stand on the flat part, meaning the half-sphere was towards the ground, and I had to balance on it, or risk falling off! I have never used a Bosu Ball, so I was very cautious. At first I thought the goal was simply to stand and balance, but then we added squats, which would mean having to distribute my weight evenly across both legs. I looked kind of like THIS, but kept my hands out in front of me for more balance. My surgical leg was a little shaky, and this was intensified by the Bosu Ball, making it even more difficult!

30 squats later (and, a careful dismount of this potentially dangerous piece of equipment), my surgical leg was ready for solid ground again!

I thought I’d be sorer today because I felt like we really pushed it (and, mixed it up, finally!) but perhaps the soreness will be another day behind. Or, maybe I’m further along than I thought, and ready for some more challenging tasks!

Other items of note:

• With the exception of an anti-inflammatory now and again, I haven’t had to pop pills for pain much since about mid-May (1 month post-op)
• The skin to the outer side of my vertical incision is still a giant numb spot, maybe 2/3 the size of my palm
• While I’m still able to ‘forget’ about my knee sometimes, I have noticed an aching feeling that comes about sometimes just when sitting
• More often I am able to get in and out of my car by pivoting on my L leg, instead of getting in or out of the car with both feet on the ground first
• I take the stairs up and down to my 2nd floor desk whenever I can, and going up remains pretty even while going down still requires some strengthening to even it out
• I can walk w/o limping, but if I’ve done a lot of activity or walking in any given day, my limp creeps back to a quite obvious favoring by days end
• I touched my butt with my heel! While standing I was able to grab my ankle and (with my foot slightly pointed/ while wearing tennies) was able to bend my knee so far as to feel my shoe hit my butt! (I even showed an assistant at PT just so someone else could share my glory!)
  
  What’s wrong with getting excited about the little things? :)

Picking Up the Pace [6 Weeks, 1 Day Post-Op]

A lot can happen in a week, and now that the pain in the area of my patellar tendon is nearly gone, I am gaining back confidence in my leg and certain motions I avoided before. Throughout the holiday weekend I was on my feet a lot and also took part in 8+ hours in the car (total) which was probably the toughest part! Weekend activities included hanging out on the dock, but I was wise enough to skip the swim to the water trampoline! Saturday the ladies of the group hit up the putt-putt course... Does that mean I can claim I'm playing sports again? :)

The last few sessions of PT have me improving by leaps and bounds, being able to do exercises I haven't touched since pre-surgery therapy. This includes more challenging balancing exercises, squats, and adding more weight (or resistance) to previous exercises. I am up to 90# on the one-leg press; I am confident I could do more, but am trying to only gradually increase the weight.

Going down stairs is getting much easier, partially due to trust in my leg and the exercises in PT that have helped me break the mindset that my leg will give out if I put the opposite one down on the next stair first. There is still some favoring going on, but it's much improved.

Otherwise, my focus has been to get my walk to normalize, and I know I am capable, but the thing most often holding me back is habit, and maybe the *littlest* tweak of pain in some motions. They said I was not letting my leg extend all the way as I worked through my gait, but I am shaking that habit. Today there was proof of this, since in PT I was put on the treadmill for ~5 minutes and Drew kept bumping it up until I was at a speed-walking pace. At first I was hesitant and favoring my surgical leg. As I eased myself into it and realized the pain that's held me back in the past was not showing itself, I was able to get a normal stride.

My big event of the day was my first attempt at running!! Drew was there to push the 'speed up' button on the treadmill until I finally couldn't speed-walk any more. I'm the first to admit, the run was not pretty (by any means), but I think, again, it was habit and a mental block more than anything, which kept me from evening it out. I didn't run long - perhaps 1 minute, but when I haven't done anything (but putt-putt) since my surgery 6+ weeks ago, 1 minute of running was plenty for me to see where I stand today!

In PT there are 2 other young ladies I see often, I believe 1 week and 4 weeks behind me (same procedure and Doc...). They were both there today, and it's hard for me not to look at them and compare myself in the way of progress. Two of us seem roughly the same, but the girl who's at 2 weeks (versus my 6 weeks) was ALSO on a treadmill today (albeit at a slower pace and a more obvious limp...). But I'm blown away by this girl's progress and have so many questions - What did I do wrong? Why isn't she in as much pain as I was? How is she asking questions like "Can I ride my bike now?" when at 2 weeks that was the last thing I wanted to do? I remind myself that everyone truly has their own schedule. I make sure to congratulate her on her progress, because we all can use words of encouragement as we work down the winding road of recovery!!

6 Week Post-Op Pics

My range of motion (ROM) is "very good" and while I still undergo forced bending in PT, the focus has turned to building the muscle back up via my exercises

Muscle mass is slowly coming back, as the exercises which flexed my quad had hurt my patellar tendon in the past, and now (I hope!) I am past that!

[I also had one of the trainers tell me that if my right thigh wasn't so muscular, I wouldn't have so much work to do to catch up!] :)

The incision is healing nicely, and it seems to be loosening a bit, but I still have a ways to go until the skin move freely over top of my knee.