Day 6
Another exciting milestone- my first time being outside since the surgery. Moving around has been hard enough; getting up and down the two stairs to leave my house has been even worse though I’ve now figured out a creative way to do it.
I had my first PT appointment today post-operation at a family friend’s practice near my family’s home. My doctor recommends that I should start PT as soon as I feel like I can, and definitely before my first post-op follow-up with my doctor (which usually happens 7-14 days after surgery).
My first PT session was great. It started off with an initial evaluation of my knee- how far I can bend, how far I can extend, the swelling around my knee. The goal is to get my knee flexion to at least 60 degrees, but no further than 90 degrees (for now.)
Then we moved to a leg massage (my muscles were so tight), and then my PT gave me simple exercises that I could do at home in addition to the ones provided to me by my doctor.
The next part was my favorite- it was using the Biodex machine. It’s pretty old-school but super effective. Basically it’s a machine that does all the work for me! It was a little intimidating at first since I wasn’t sure how much I could handle. While there was a little pain when the machine first started moving, once it got in a rhythm it was great to use. Slowly but surely my knee extension improved.
Last, I finished with a Game Ready machine- the fancier (and more expensive) version of my Ossur device. I spent 15 minutes with my leg elevated, and let the Game Ready compress and cool my knee.
I’m looking forward to attending more PT sessions and getting back to normal. I am so excited to be able to walk around again. It’ll be awhile but I’m hopeful in my progress.
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Activities Completed:
Still watching Grey’s Anatomy
Started reading Where’d You Go Bernadette
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ACL Recovery Metrics:
Pain (Scale of 1-10, 1=no pain 10=most pain): 3 normally, 4/5 during and after PT
Knee Flexion: 68 degrees
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