My physical therapy schedule has changed. To stretch out my physical therapy time until I see Dr. Frush again, and to keep in the parameters of insurance covering them, I have moved to twice a week with Brad. Mondays and Thursdays. I told Brad that my knee still hurts and feels a little bit unsteady. I am not looking forward to two more months of pain!
He listened and once I was on the table he bent my knee a little bit and worked my knee, concentrating on the inside. After he did that, he got the seatbelt and attached it to my ankle. My Mom was there and asked about the traction. He explained about, “opening the space” and I just laid back and enjoyed it!
After he was finished pulling my leg in traction, he straightened my leg and pulled my leg sideways toward him. I felt the stretch in my groin and in my hip. It felt nice. Then he bent my knee and started tapping on it to get me to lift my foot. Because I haven’t been to Barwis in so long, I wasn’t very successful in moving my foot. He thought for a moment and left to get something. Before he left, he told me he was going to try something new.
He came back with something that looked like one of my two deodorants. I started using natural deodorant about 10 years ago when I went “organic”. I use “the Crystal” and then I put on a separate stick of deodorant (just because it smells good).
I couldn’t find a good picture that actually shows what it looks like so this other one is not the kind I use but it shows what it looks like better (I wish I used it because it’s purple!):
When you use “the Crystal,” you get it wet before you apply it. Brad brought over something that looked like that. He started rubbing it on my need to activate my muscles. Turns out it was ice. Now, I guess its a good thing that I can’t really feel my legs 100%, it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t insanely cold! After my injury, my knee pain at it’s worst was a 10 but maybe it really was a 15 but I couldn’t feel it all the way.
So he would rub it on my knee and then he would tap it with his fingers to activate my muscles. I asked him what he was doing was called he told me it was “Facilitory Icing.” He wanted to facilitate muscle movement in my leg. I’m not sure how well it worked but it felt nice to numb my knee from the pain.
After a while, he finished, dried my knee with a towel, and hooked me up for ice and stim. I think it is really cool that they use all kinds of tools to help my knee feel better! It just stinks that it is going to be another four months until my knee feels completely better!