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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Physical Therapy

I've been able to walk around a bit during the day, even without the crutches. I'm also down to about 2-4 Percocet a day, a huge improvement over how I was when I first came home. I decided that if I felt good enough to be up and about that I should really get on my physical therapy.


I found the sheet of paper my physical therapist sent home with me last week and began to look at the instructions. It turns out I should be doing a bit more than I've been letting myself. I no longer have to keep my knee locked straight all day and I'm allowed to walk 30-45 minutes a day at this point. The exercises are all straightforward, basically leg lifts and knee bends. The leg lifts aren't so bad, the knee bends, well those are a different story. It's amazing how quickly muscle atrophies. Naturally there is an amount of pain from within the knee but mostly I feel it in the muscles of my upper leg. It's almost like I'm too weak to actually bend my leg. I've set my brace so that when I'm up and about I can bend my knee to up to 60* of rotation, which is what I am allowed to do. When I'm laying down I lock the leg straight, still a good deal of pain if I bend it, but I'll be working to lock the leg less and less. I have a follow-up with physical therapy Friday and I'm hoping to be on schedule with my recovery by that time. I got a late start but I'm feeling a lot better than I did last week so I'm hoping I can catch up the time.

Not much more than that to update, I'll likely post again after my appointment on Friday.

4 comments:

Mom and Dad Hand said...

Good to hear fresh news. Keep up the good work. I found with my hip that the more I did the exercises the easier walking became. It sounds like everything is progressing well. Love, Mom and Dad Hand

Jesse Pahman said...

Yeah, I know the exercises are designed to help my walk again, it just surprised me how quickly my muscles began to atrophy. It's only been 14 days since the surgery and I felt a big loss in muscle strength when I was trying to work the leg yesterday. I know it'll get easier, and luckily working through muscle pain is something the Army gets us used to, it's just going to take some time.

Mom and Dad Hand said...

You are right. We are proud of you
and love you. Some of it sounds
like dad and I getting older (the
Pitts, by the way). That's why we
keep trying to walk (and the doctor
told us we had to). Love, mom

Mom Jones said...

Thanks for the news on how you and your knee are doing ... it makes me sad to read about you being in pain ... hopefully each day will be less and less painful and you will be strong again soon.

We are surely looking forward to seeing you in just six days now ... I've been packing for a week! Much much love to you, Diana, and the kiddos!