Physical Therapy…

I have to say, the surgery was relatively easy and pain free compared to physical therapy.  PT has been a lot harder than I expected.   I don’t know where my doctor gets 30-45 minutes of therapy, because my first PT session was 90 minutes.   It has only gone up since then.   Last week I did 3 hours of PT.

What makes PT hard?   For one, the guy is massaging my leg and digging his fingers into my knee cap and or area that got surgically repaired so it is sore.  Then he bends my knee in all these directions but I have limited range of motion so it hurts to move.   Then it is the time.   I either go a few hours BEFORE work or a few hours AFTER work and it isn’t peaceful or easy.

PT usually starts off with a 45 minute massage of my knee, so 45 minutes of me cringing in pain.  Next comes 15 minutes of electrical stimulation to get my quad muscle working again:

Then I do various exercises where it looks like I hardly know how to use my leg.   Shoot, I just finally was able to lift my leg on my own for the first time in a month!   I was so happy that I thought my trainer would let me go home early and celebrate but ‘nooooo’…he put me on the bike instead.  It was like the first time I ever rode a bike!   As soon as my leg hit the top of the rotation is just STOPPED.  I mean literally stopped.  The muscle go so tight that I couldn’t complete a revolution!   After a few minutes of forward and back I finally made a revolution but I am pedaling super slow.

After that, back to the electrical stimulation.   A few more exercises and then my favorite part…game ready":

This thing is awesome!  I wish I knew about this when I was playing.  I might have bought one of these machine.  It basically wraps around my leg, gets filled with ice water, then freezes instantly and then compresses and decompresses for 20 minutes.  It feels great.  Best part is, I know when it is done I can go home.

I have only gone to PT for 2 weeks.  Even though I see improvement, I also see other patients who have been coming for 3-4 months.   It is just daunting to think 3-4 months of going 3 times a week.  It is almost like having 2 jobs.  I am trying to get off the crutches by next week and just be on a brace.  At least that will get me more mobile.