Physical Therapy - Day 5 - Monday

I wasn't sure how things would be after taking Saturday off. Sunday I did the general leg lift stuff, and when I went to bed I did the bending stuff. This morning things were tight, the left leg especially.

I find that PT is a very strange thing. Sometimes when you think things aren't going so well, they really are going okay. Perhaps this has been a continuing theme with me, but since I had to have the manipulation, I do feel somewhat vindicated. Anyway, my left knee struggled with the closest seat setting on the Nu-Step machine this morning. Very tight, somewhat painful. The other exercises, with the exception of the squat machine went well. I have a hate/hate relationship with this machine. Same problems as Friday: legs don't bend enough, butt doesn't go down far enough to increase the bend, and $#@! legs struggle to push myself up. Grrrrrr. The balance ball thingy went great. No problems standing without holding, and I was able to go from side to side without holding on much. Going back and forth required some holding on, but I think I'll do okay with that too.

Then came the stretches on my stomach. The therapist was giving me a little extra push which hurt, but he seemed really pleased. He said he thought for sure I was over 90 degrees on the right and very close on the left. That's a good thing.

Jeff worked with me then and as expected is very pleased with the right knee, not as pleased with the left. But, he did feel as though we've made good progress on the left knee. I have to buy a dog collar tonight to use as a strap. Jeff wants me to do the "lay on your stomach and bend your knee up using the strap to bend it more" exercise three times a day.

Ugh, there's a couch thing in the ladies room, but the thought of laying on that for anything is like a germophobe's nightmare. I guess I can bring a sheet or something in to cover it. I'm supposed to do this morning, noon, and night and I suppose I can bite the bullet and do it once at work. Yuck.

Tomorrow morning is my last scheduled PT session but Jeff is hoping to get it extended so I can go in 3 times a week. I really hope this is approved because I finally think I'm making some progress. I'd like that to continue. I'm clearly not where I need to be yet and seriously, I need to continue.