nov. 1 and 3. - week 12.

haaayyyy....

so PT this week with michelle. chris is on vacation. it's cool seeing how people do stuff slightly differently.

ok. nov. 1 (tuesday).
bike - 10 minutes.
stretches - here's where things were slightly different. same stretches, just different approach. i'm supposed to tell chris that michelle was mean to me. but in reality, that's just not true.
exercises - straight leg raises: 5 lbs all the way around (30), 7.5 lbs upwards (20), 10 lbs upwards (15). the 10 lb ones are getting easier. leg extensions on the wedge (20 x 5 sec or something). leg extensions off the table. both with 10 lbs. leg press: 2 plates - 20, 3 plates - 15. 2 plates seems really easy, 3 plates a little tougher, but getting easier since my quads are getting so monstrously big. hee haw. shuttle: with 4 bands and the balance disc (3 x 10). 4 way hip (20 each way). calf raises (3 x 15... i had to finish a couple of the sets off with my left). step downs (new): michelle lowered the step as low as it would go, and i did about 20. there's a little pain, mostly lowering back down. i have to cheat a little to do them, but it's good for me i guess. there's just some general tightness in both motions (up and down). i think the muscles surrounding my knee just aren't quite strong enough. it's similar to walking up and down stairs, which i can't do quite properly yet (i have to go up with my good leg then bring my right leg up to meet it... and on the down side lower myself with my good leg then bring it down to meet my right). wall squats: 20 for 5 second hold. crab walk: david said it's his favorite exercise both to do and to watch patients do. what else. oh, balance. 3 way throws on the airex foam pad (30 each direction) with the 2nd ball.
hydrotrack - walked for a mile at about 2.5-2.8 mph. squats in the water (45).
oh, yeah, we did the manual hamstring thing after i changed out of my swimsuit. 20 reps with resistance both ways.
flexion - michelle pushed on my leg a few different times, but not as hard as chris any one time. we got to 125 or maybe 128 even.
extension - the chair of doom. i put on my auburn sweatshirt and tried to hide.

here's something kinda interesting. takeo spikes came in to get PT while i was there. i believe he tore his achilles pretty bad. today, he was wearing a shirt with his name on it. and he changed into scrubs before he left.

nov. 3 (thursday).
bike - 10 minutes.
stretches - michelle did some rubbing on my super tight quad today. and some ultrasound on my patellar tendon area before that. then we did some more stretching of my quad (lying on my stomach). then she did a combo of e-stim and ultrasound. strange sensation. the e-stim pad goes on the muscle on top of the tibia, but it sends stimulation up and down your leg. i could feel it activating my quad where the ultrasound head was passing over. and i could also feel tingliness in my toes. it wasn't exactly painful on my quad, just uncomfortable. like intensified stim. seemed to feel better afterwards. less tight, and less pain below/around my patella.
exercises - straight leg raises: 5 lbs all the way around (30), 7.5 lbs upwards (20), 10 lbs upwards (15). leg extensions on the wedge (20 x 5 sec or something). leg extensions off the table. both with 10 lbs. leg press: 2 plates - 20, 3 plates - 15. shuttle: with 4 bands and the balance disc (3 x 10). 4 way hip (20 each way). calf raises (3 x 15... i had to finish a couple of the sets off with my left). step downs: 20. less pain today. good, eh? wall squats: 20 for 5 second hold. crab walk. 3 way throws on the airex foam pad (30 each direction) with the 2nd ball. today, however, the trampoline was in use (things got really busy there). so i threw the ball to david and he threw it back to me. it was a lot tougher because he could place the ball unpredictably. i think i did some good work here on this, though.
hydrotrack - walked for a mile at about 2.5-2.8 and up to 3 mph for the last 0.1 mi. squats in the water (45).
flexion - i was pulling on my foot for awhile. michelle came over and did 3 separate pushes, and i think we got to 125. pain was slightly below intolerable i guess.

takeo spikes was there today again. no shirt with his name on it, though. he, again, left wearing scrubs. and he's got the coolest crutches - very high-tech looking.

did i forget anything?