PT this week - week 4.

so... my physical therapist is chris olson at the sports rehab center of atlanta in midtown (brian tovin's place). it has been, during many a period of my life, like a home away from home.

sept. 6. chris first had me do some easy stuff - get on the bike and try to push my knee to rotate all the way around (didn't happen), quad sets with e-stim, straight leg raises with e-stim + 2lb weight, stretching with minor discomfort.

then came the fun stuff. the prone leg flexion thing (laying on the tummy, cushion/sausage under the thigh, pulling on your foot with a rope/doggie lead over your shoulder) is like my rehab nightmare. she got me to 75 degrees of flexion, but it was not a pleasant ride. there was some screaming, i held my breath for a little bit, then tried to take deep breaths which turned out to be more like desperate hyperventilation, i was clenching all the muscles in my body trying to make the pain go away (which it didn't)... the thing that calmed me down for a second was the thought, "hey, am i being a pussy here? should this be not so big of a deal?" but, then i think she pushed for another degree or so and the pain was real again. i think i felt some scar tissue give during the experience. afterwards, it felt nice to just lay there and breathe. dave (self proclaimed PT bitch) brought me some water. chris said i dealt with it really well. if i had to give it a number between 1 and 10, i'd say 8.8.

then we moved on to another version of that stretch where i sat and let my legs hang off the side of the table. i pushed down using my left leg, got to around 60 or 65 degrees (can't remember exactly), then chris pushed me to 70 degrees. more pain, clenching, difficult breathing, but more like a 6.9.

i also got to walk around in the hydrotrack (underwater treadmill) for awhile - supported by water and my arms. i'm supposed to concentrate on a good heel strike and then pushing off with my toes. they adjusted the speed up to about 1.1 mph going forwards, and about 0.7 mph walking backwards. then i did some squats and calf raises underwater.

and then, more sitting with my leg hanging off the table and pushing from me and from chris. i think we still only got to 70 degrees.

chris also "massaged" my scars - trying to get them loosened up. it felt a little weird, but good at the same time.

last week, chris taught me that the 3rd rule of PT is: don't die. today i learned the other 2 rules. 1st: don't crap your pants. 2nd: don't fall off the table. i think i can handle those rules.

sept. 8. bike (still can't get all the way around), quad sets w/stim, straight leg raises w/stim and 3 lb weight, stretching. then we did the sitting with leg hanging and a little bit of pushing to about 70 degrees. chris wanted me to get in the water before we pushed for more. underwater treadmill for about 15 minutes up to like 1.4 mph. squats and calf raises underwater. on to the painful stuff, although it really wasn't so bad this time. chris let me, for the most part, impart pain on myself this time. she pushed a little to get to 75 degrees on the prone one and held it there, but it was more like a 5 this time. chris set my goal for next week at 85 degrees. she showed me that i can do it at home also by looping my other heel around my foot and pushing that way. i got to about 77-80 degrees doing that, so she said we may have to raise next week's goal. chris is sort of surprised that the scabs from the incisions and ports are still around... the two on my thigh are gone, but the other 4 still remain.