Quick update before x-rays and consultant apt on Monday 🤞🏻
Had another physio appointment on Wednesday and things are starting to get moving now that I'm 7.5 weeks post HTO. After last week's work-related frustration and lack of sleep due to nightime leg soreness without the brace to support my knee, I decided to get up off my backside and book a taxi to the gym so I could a) have a change of scenery for physio, b) get in an upper body weights session to try and burn off some of this pent up energy and hopefully aid sleep that way, and c) get away from the computer so I couldn't be tempted to do any more work when I'm still meant to be part time.
It seemed to do the trick on all three fronts so I'm calling that a win. I guess this is the double-whammy of ACL-related knee injuries; not only do you lose the ability to do the activities you love but you also lose the ability to burn off energy in a healthy way and manage your mental state effectively too. Reading, music, TV, films (and yes, work) are all good ways of keeping occupied but sometimes you just need some physical exhaustion, blood-sugar-managing movement and endorphins to get you through and boy have I missed all of those.
I went into this week's appointment having dropped down to one crutch and doing a little bit of 'walking' around the kitchen crutchless, so that's good progress.
Walking crutchless makes me think of the kids balancing before taking their first steps - all poise and expectation, followed by tin-soldier-like steps, so I'm really focussing on heel strike and making sure my leg is straight so I don't develop any weird gait habits. That means not being proud about picking up the crutch again when the knee starts to swell and get tired but wow, having hands I can actually carry stuff with again is amazing 😂
Good progress meant I now have some more exercises to add to the physio list for the next couple of weeks. Swelling is down again, ROM is up, and friends have noticed I'm a LOT more mobile this week so all looking positive there.
I am having some challenges with pain around the surgical site and hamstring tendons/ITB that I need to keep an eye on though. I couldn't do glute bridges last week so was given body weight seated leg extensions instead. That causes increasingly sharp, burning pain under my knee/upper tibia that gets worse as I move through the sets. The best way I can describe is as though the joint is made of velcro, with the strips being pulled apart inside the joint and away from a graze again and again. It's not too bad when it starts but it builds with every rep until I have to stop. I can get the sets in if I split them over the course of the day but any more than two sets at once is an issue.
We've dropped those this week, replaced by glute bridges, but having done those yesteday, the same issue arises as the sets progress. Plus that triggers the hamstring tendon/ITB pain on the lower, so I'm trying to work out the best route forward. It's a bit of a guessing game what pain is fine to work through (and will dissipate as the muscles get stronger) and what pain means stop. For now, I'm going to keep going and so long as I focus on form and keep the ROM relatively constrained, I can work through it so hopefully that will get better over the next few weeks.
Otherwise, I was feeling pretty good and confident that new physio would be a breeze. Ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa! Single leg balances (4 sets of 10x15seconds) on the operated leg started wobbly, got better in second set, then a whole lot worse in the third set with my knee trying to hyperextend and collapse inwards to help me balance so I stopped those there (target for the next few weeks is to get those up to the full four sets then).
Moving onto quarter squats, I thought they'd be okay as I'd started some of those off my own back last week. Nope. Doing them straight after the single leg balances meant my quads were crazy wobbly and the knee was desperate to collapse inwards again (rather than tracking forwards and over my second toe) - definitely NOT what we want - so I stopped those at just two sets.
How crazy weak is that?!
In a strange way, it feels good to have hit the failure point though. That's where the growth occurs. Swelling was up to 3cm as a result so I'm taking it easier today. Just need to make sure I get the balance between courage and stupidity right now. 🤪
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