After the confusion over the official 'brace free' day, I jettisoned the brace - morning, noon and night - on Monday and so far, so good...
In terms of encouraging scar tissue in the joint, I'd say that has been a success - my knee literally feels as though it's made of velcro, and I'm having to really concentrate to make sure it's straight (not bent) when I stand on it. Normally that would be an issue but that's what we were aiming for, hopefully it will start to break down a bit as I start using it more though.
The other aspect I hadn't really factored in - but should have if I'd actually engaged my brain - is that the realignment seems to have resulted in a valgus knee, to the extent I can no-longer stand with my legs straight and feet together 🤔 I guess that shows the alignment has shifted - whether this is more than was planned or not, and whether it adjusts slightly as the muscles re-build in their new position, I don't know, but safe to say any belated ambitions for a later-life career in ballet are probably best dropped now. I wasn't one for wearing short skirts anyway but I certainly won't be rocking the mini skirt look now either, no-matter how skinny the leg stays (it won't stay skinny, I can only wish 😂 ).
If ever there was a case for function over form, not the other way around, I guess this is it.
Physio: Next steps
Anyway, had my second physio session today and all seems to go be going well on that front. Swelling is down to within 2cm of my 'good knee' and I have 0-125 degrees ROM so all on target. As we're now transitioning to weight bearing and losing the crutches, I have some new exercises to do 🎉 Nothing too complicated - just clam shells, straight leg raises (with hold!), seated leg extensions and hip extensions. We had a go at glute bridges, which were fine going up but caused some ITB and front of knee pain going back down so we're leaving well alone for this week and will probably try again at next week's appointment.
On the subject of pain, I do have some discomfort on the anterior medial aspect of the knee (can be quite a strong ache), some stronger/sharper pain below the knee cap and an aching lower shin. Otherwise, the most pain comes from ITB (or hamstring tendon, not sure which) which is just crazy tight. Physio is hopeful that will improve as the muscles get stronger so fingers firmly crossed.
Other advice is to make sure I keep icing and, if the knee swells more than 2cm over the course of the day, that's my red light to slow things down a bit.
I also asked her to have a quick look at the good knee, after the issues there over the last couple of weeks, just to be on the safe side. As I suspected, it looks as though I've irritated the medial meniscus a bit but it wouldn't clunk while I was there and all ligaments seem fine, so she's not too worried. Hopefully the precautionary action of ice ice baby and keeping off it as much as possible over the last couple of weeks has nipped that one in the bud 🤞 (although the clunk is well and truly there as I type.)
So all in all, a pretty positive update. Back for another physio session next week, then consultant appointment and x-rays the following week.
Headspace
I feel like I'm being professionally babied a bit at the moment, but I also need to accept that slowly slowly is probably a better long-term approach if this is going to have a chance of working.
It's as if people are treating me with kid gloves though, as if they're not sure where I'm at mentally so trying to be super cautious and reassure me at every turn (to be fair to physio today, I was in a really bad mood by the time I arrived, due to a nightmarishly frustrating morning at work that I just couldn't shake, so I was pretty edgy).
That aside, I am going to draw parallels with what has happened previously - it doesn't mean I'm delicate, just determined to avoid repeating mistakes. If an amber light turns on, I'm paying attention. If something turns out to be amiss, fine, let me know; if it's not, great, let me know. Don't be over careful. I just want to deal in facts now and can handle it one way or the other.
On that theme, the 'hope' word made a couple of appearances again today in the context of 'hoping this approach will work' - a bit of a red rag to a bull at the moment for me, if I'm honest: The hope of a solution got me where I am, I'm not here for hope now though, I'm here for facts and results. A previous post aired my current thoughts about 'wait and see'. It's not what I'm looking for. Facts, plans, action. In that order, thank you!
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