21 weeks, 6 days post-op
Last PT Appointment
I had my last PT appointment yesterday. She did the (still painful) soft tissue massage (and said there were some undissolved stitches working their way out)... asked how things were going. Well, they're going great - I've been riding my bike to work, going for 3 mile walks, I went to my first SPIN class (it was difficult to stand up on the bike but I think it is good for building my calf muscle), I can go down stairs pretty normally, etc.
She had me do some jogging on the trampoline and some single calf raises - she was impressed. She had me try some jumps - forward and back and side to side. My tendon felt fine doing this but my bad foot didn't quite remember what to do. We looked at the exercises I had been doing and she starred the ones I need to focus on. She added light jogging and plyometrics exercises.
I guess with my insurance I only get 20 physical therapy sessions a year, and this was #15. So they're not really kicking me to the curb. I can call if I have any questions and I still can come in if I need to. She even gave me a t-shirt for graduation, woo hoo.
Daily Exercises
Gastroc Stretch
Step Down
Side Steps
Grapevine
Walking backwards
Toe push off walking
Walking on toes
One Foot Balance
Hip leg lifts
Hip leg raise
Bilateral Heel Raise
Heel Lift with Eccentric Loading
Single Heel Raise, eccentric loading
Plyometrics - forward and back
Plyometrics - side to side
Plyometrics - diagonals
Massage/Vitamin E
T-Shirts
AchillesBlog came out with a t-shirt and Dennis sent me one for free as a thanks for helping with the Marathon Tracker. Thanks! You made my day!
First Jog
Today I went for my first jog. It felt great! I almost cried I was was so happy - which is quite a change from how I used to view exercise, especially running. My injured leg is still weak so it was kind of a limp jog, but it was still a jog. I went around the lake, about 3 miles, walking and jogging.
Back to Volleyball
My PT said about 9 months to be back to volleyball so we're looking at December 1 people!
I'll post some photos soon...
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
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5 comments:
I can honestly say I've never almost cried because I was so happy to be running. =) But I'm thrilled for you!
Congratulations on your PT graduation! =)
SO happy to hear that your recovery is going well! And I'm especially impressed that you're jogging 3 miles AND biking to work. You're making some of us that have fully functional achilles look bad! ;)
Keep it up!
Von Blondie #2
Hey Bri! So, I found me some New Balance mules...they are going to work great. Only bad thing is my bad foot sometimes swells so that I can't wear the shoe..too had shoe places don't sell one shoe bigger...for those with jacked up feet. :) Question...you'll know the answer. I'm cleared to bike and even elliptical. How do you go from going hard on these machines and killing it each workout...to easing in gradually? Will we know when we've done too much as we are doing it? And, I looked at your list of exercises...do you really do those EVERY day? Man, I need to get better at doing mine! :)
Hey Kristina-
I think you just need to remember that tired is OK and pain is bad. It's difficult sometimes to not be able to do what you normally used to do.
Sometimes there are setbacks too. I remember one day I went out to ride my bike and the tendon just didn't feel right. I rode about 5 minutes and went home - really bummed out. I went to PT the next day and was still really bummed out. But, I got better...
About the exercises - I try to do them every day. There are some days that I'm too tired or too busy but I try not to skip them too much. I keep track in a spreadsheet of all my PT exercises and workouts.
Thanks Bri for your comments. Great job Miss Rehab! I'm impressed that you make yourself do your exerises every day! You go girl!
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