Day 11. PT #2.

Today was my second round of physical therapy. The PTist said that I was doing excellent. 130 degrees without any assistance or towel to pull me along. We started on the weight lifting today. Here's what I did:
3 sets of 20 leg extensions (with my knee oven a 'thing') with 7.5lb weight
3 sets of 20 leg lifts with a 2 lb weight
2 sets of 20 leg curls with ~40 lbs
3 sets of 20 on the 'shuttle' leg press on a medium difficulty.
3 sets of 20 calf raises

I've been given strict instructions not to do leg extensions and to do squats instead (Wall squats). I've also been cleared for elliptical and bike.

Afterwards everything felt great and I was walking probably the best since I walked into surgery. As soon as I went back to my desk and sat down everything stiffened up again.

Speaking of which, yesterday was my first day back at work. I'm at a desk 90% of the time, but getting up and walking I could tell my walk was getting progressively worse. If I went down to a test cell I had to sit down otherwise the swelling / throbbing was just too much. I think 10-15 minutes is my limit for being on my feet. Having my leg below my heart is enough.

Day 3. PT #1

No pain when I woke up. I can get 5-10 with ease and lifting my leg is quite easy. Walking unassisted feels great also. My extended sleep must have put by body into super repair mode as everything feels relatively great.

I can get 0-45 under my own power. Further if I push it. I no longer have to rely on the crutches trick to stand up.

It's a big day, my first day of PT.

Driving isn't too bad. Occasionally I'll just use my left foot for brake so that I don't have to move my right leg over. It makes for some interesting stops.

First thing I got yelled at for was my walking. Although I'm walking w/o crutches, my form leaves much to be desired. I'm 'clomping' when I walk. Meaning I just keep my leg at 5-10 degrees and drag it along and place it. What I need to be working on is heel-toe, heel-toe.

Official measurement is 85 degrees but I only got one run, no chance to warm up and I didn't get to use a towel. Leg goes completely straight. Dr. Gibbons is not a fan of hyper extension so i shouldn't be pushing it, just getting it straight is the goal.

My leg lifts are ok but not perfect. There is a small lag in between when I lift my leg and when my calf comes off of the ground. Meaning I'm not getting any quad engagement from 0-3 degrees, it's only once the leg is off the ground does my quad kick in and lift the lower leg.

A condition which I've never had before surfaced today when I changed the bandages: blisters. Supposedly what happens is they attach the tape when I'm nice and unswollen. As my knee swells the tape pulls on the surface of the skin and creates blisters. I trimmed the tape back and put some gauze/antiseptic on it.



As I was practicing flexion for the rest of the day I managed to make it pretty far: