With a great report at my first post op appointment, I was feeling pretty confident! I’ve been consistently progressing well at physical therapy and reached my goal of bending my knee to 90°. But then there are days like yesterday.
Days that serve as reminders for me that I DID just have knee surgery! I did not get approved to get my brace unlocked, therefore I cannot even put any weight on this surgically repaired knee. My knee hurt a lot! It wasn’t the cracked-open feeling I had in my knee before surgery but it was an ache that I know will feel better eventually; but it does it right now!
I was on time for my appointment at ATI, I worked with Brad. As I was getting ready to get on the table, he asked how I felt. I told him that my knee hurt but it was a better pain than it was before but it still was in pain! Once I was on the table, he rubbed my knee and pushed on it with his thumbs.
He kneaded my calf a bit and worked on bending my knee and it’s range of motion a bit, but primarily he rubbed my knee out. I asked him how it felt and he said there were some, “Tight spots.” As he did this, he had his, “thinking face” on.
I told him how I had seen the “thinking face” on Parker ( my MRT therapist who told me about Mike Barwis), Mike Barwis, Jesse (my first trainer), Phil, Michael, Sue, and Nick (among others), and everyone I have seen at ATI. I asked him if he sees “grids” on my body.
Like, Tron grids. I always imagined that Parker saw them but he didn’t and Brad just laughed and said that he doesn’t either. I asked him if his hands hurt, he shook his head and told me,”Not really.” He talked about tools that therapists use to save their hands. (I am familiar with a few of them).
He told me that hands are the first things to go on physical therapists and they get their hands worked on at physical therapy when they do. My time was up and he hooked me up for stim and Larry put my ice on. That’s my favorite part! My knee had started to feel a lot better!