week 1, day 7 - physical therapy

today was my first physical therapy session. the first things my physical therapist did was measure my extension and flexion in my knee.

extension - how straight i could make my leg - i got to 0 degrees which is fully straight - a large part of that had to do with the fact that i wore a knee brace for the last week

flexion - how far i can bend the knee - at first, by myself, lying on my stomach, i got to a measly 30 degrees, because i hadn't tried bending my knee at all since surgery. later on in the session, after doing some exercises, i got it all the way up to 90 degrees, but i get ahead of myself.

the therapist then ran me through some exercises, with a few goals in mind: (1) regaining my old range-of-motion - full extension and full flexion; (2) strengthening my leg muscles so that i can get back to putting all my weight on it; and (3) preventing scar tissue buildup which will limit my
wall heel slides - basically lied on my back with my butt to the wall and let the knee bend under the force of gravity until i felt it was tight, then held it there. rinse and repeat. this was to get flexion back. by the end of doing this, i was up to 90 degrees of flexion.

various isometric leg lifts - basically got in in different positions laying down and lifted my leg to strengthen leg muscles. these were kinda tiring, as i hadn't done my much with my leg, but i felt a difference.

quad sets - flexing my quads (the muscle on the top of your thigh) and holding it for 10-15 seconds, repeatedly. this was surprisingly difficult - it's as if my mind doesn't quite remember how to do anything to that muscle - i had to really concentrate to get results.

patella mobilization - this involved me manually moving my kneecap with my fingertips in different directions to prevent scar tissue from building up.

finally, at the end of the session, the physical therapist taught me how to start walking with more weight on my knee using the crutches. up until then, i'd been mostly hopping around on my crutches, only putting weight on my good knee. it was absolutely liberating to put more weight on my bad leg and gain some confidence in walking (albeit at a snail's pace and with two crutches holding a lot of weight). the therapist said i should try to walk around like this as much as possible as it will help me get to the point where i can walk without crutches all the more faster.

on the whole, the first physical therapy session was great - i realized i can do a lot more with my knee than i thought, and i know some exercises to start actively recuperating instead of sitting around and watching law & order all day long.