Yesterday I had my first post-op PT appointment. I’m Day 21/Three weeks PO:
1) Inspection of my incision and super gentle massage of hams to assess numbness & pain. (Yes, please, put some hands on me!) Melissa (PT) worked with me during the month between my injury and surgery to manage pain and ward off scar tissue. She was instrumental in finding the right surgeon for me. Now she could see & feel a clear difference between what used to be a “divot” and what’s now my *attached* hamstrings with tension on them.
2) Supervised practice of…
- Quad sets
- Ankle pumps
- Standing heel raises
- Side-lying hip abduction
- Prone passive knee flexion (her assistant shot a video with my phone to show my wife how far to bend my knee)
- Walking on crutches with 50% weight bearing surgical leg (she actually brought out a bathroom scale and took my weight, then put my good side foot on a block of the same height and my surgical side foot on the scale. “Now lean on the scale with your surgical side foot til the scale reaches half your full weight. That’s what 50% feels like.”)
3) Iced 15 minutes.I’m sore this morning. Every time I feel pain I take a deep breath in and slowly let it out, otherwise I will spiral into the Pit of Despair around pain & progress. Stop, drop, & breathe, Meggie. And onward.
Den of Positivity 