We started with 6 mins on the elliptical. This was my first time on the elliptical since the second surgery. My feet were fine.
Next, I had to stretch my calves on the angled stretching block.
Then, I did two new exercises with a waffle board. It is a wooden board with a half circle cylinder on the bottom. I had to balance on it without letting the board move side to side. After that, my therapist turned the board around so that I had to use it to work on my front to back ROM by leaning all the way forward until the board touched the ground, and then all the way backwards, 30 times. I did one more round of these two exercises.
Since my therapist thought that my right calf was tight when looking at me do the waffle board exercises, we did manual therapy. He deeply massaged my calf. One part of it was really tight, so he dug in deep, and that was pretty painful. Next, he put an e-stim patch on my upper calf and did ultrasound on my lower calf.
He asked me about how my toe yoga exercises were coming, and I told him I could do it. He wanted me to show him while I was laying face down on the table. I exclaimed, "You want me to do it without looking at my toes?" He laughed and said, "YES!" I told him that I can't do it, that I can't do much with my feet without looking at them. He also asked me about spending time barefoot at home. Another thing that I can't do, since I can't make it more than 5-10 steps before the pain comes or stand in the shower for more than 10 secs. You guys already know the laundry list of things I can't do at this point, so I don't have to re-hash them. After he said, "Do you know what therapists hate to hear the most?" I quickly answered, "I can't." I really can't do a lot of things at this point. It isn't an attitude issue, it is my reality. He wanted me to show him that I can do the toe yoga without looking at my feet. I could just barely do it, but only because he gave me verbal feedback that it was right. I can't feel that I am doing it myself, I really do have to look at it to confirm. I have lost most of the proprioception of my feet. To not get too scientific, my brain sends the signal of what it wants my feet to do, but the receptors in my feet don't send the information back to my brain to confirm that the movement is correct. That is why I have to use visual feedback, I can't just sense that I am doing the movement.
For hw, he wants me to try to do the toe yoga exercises without looking and also to do my balancing on each leg with my eyes closed. All I can say is that I'll try, but this is not going to be easy.
After 1 hour, that was it. I am used to doing much more in a therapy appointment. I usually start with 6-8 mins on the bike, then manual therapy for 10-15 minutes, 30-45 mins of strengthening and ROM exercises, 15-30 mins of cardio, and 15 minutes of GameReady on both feet. At this clinic, you get up to a solid hour of 1 on 1 time vs. 30 mins at my previous clinic, but the total treatment time is much less.
When I left, I felt like I had done a warm-up. As soon as I got home, I took matters into my own hands and did a 15 min walk around my building, and then went to the gym.
I rode the pyramid program on the bike for 20 mins.
Then...
3 x 10 squats (15 lb dumbbells), shrugs (20 lb dumbbells), deadlifts (20 lb dumbbells)
30 bilateral front step-ups while holding 10 lb dumbbells
40 lateral step-ups with each foot
Back to my apartment for my entire home exercise program.
Ice.
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Reflection
Again, you are in control of your own destiny. Don't complain. Put up or shut up. Period. So...now I have to do most of my therapy exercises on my own. It's only uncomfortable, not impossible. Nothing that I will let stop me from making a full recovery.
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