brace gone – date set.

so things have been going pretty well the past couple of weeks.  I saw a couple of doctors for second opinions about two weeks ago.  Both said I didn’t need to wear the brace, but I continued to wear it anyways.  About that same time PT had me starting to do exercises without the brace.  As I’ve been getting stronger and more stable, I’ve been spending more time  without the brace.  This week I decided I’d try going to work without the brace, and so far so good.  So, yeah. Now I’m not t wearing the brace at all.

My physical therapist and I decided that it’d be best to save my covered visits until after the surgery since those will be very important.  So they set me up with an exercise plan to continue to work on until I have the surgery.  So instead of going into the PT office twice a week during office hours, I go to the gym 5 days a week after work (about 2hrs 3 times a week and about 1hr 2 times a week).  The workout is completely legs: quads, hamstrings, butt, calves, balance, and ~15 of ice time.

The surgery date is set for the beginning of next month, and I decided to go with the patella tendon.

surgery: yes, doctor: undecided

the knee is still stiff in the morning, but it loosens up much quicker.  Within an hour I have most of my range of motion.

PT is continuing twice a week.  They’ve got me doing more strenuous exercises to work my upper and lower leg muscles, and that’s followed by ice.  They also still have me doing daily exercises that involve more repetitions but with only my body or leg weight.

I can feel my leg getting stronger because I’m walking around almost normally now.  I only have a slight limp, and I think it’s because the brace hinders my range of motion. The brace also keeps me from moving around too quickly, which is probably good so I don’t twist my knee and end up causing more damage.

I’ve decided I’m getting the surgery.  Now I just have to pick a doctor.  I went in to see a second doctor who got a lot of great reviews, and thought he was okay.   There’s another one I want to check out, but I still need to make an appointment.

no new news

So it’s been a while, and that’s mainly because nothing new has happened. The knee is still stiff in the morning (5-80deg). The pain is pretty much gone (1/10), and it’s not really sore in the afternoon anymore either.

PT twice a week consists of ultrasound to heat the tissues, followed with evaluation. Then I do some exercises to build strength in my hamstrings and quads. Then ice and electrodes. And, I’m doing exercises at home every night to build strength as well as getting on the stationary bike to get range of motion.

leg feels stronger. a little less stiff in the morning.  little pain all day

had PT today. ultrasound was first to warm up the deep tissue near my mcl.  more strength exercises for my quads and hamstrings.  more electrodes and ice. then done.

First PT appointment

The first PT appointment went well today. We spent quite a bit of time talking. I explained how the accident happened, and what my normal level of activity was. Then she went over the knee ligaments and functions, which was good to hear again. She checked both of my knees for range of motion, both normal and abnormal motion. Then she had me walk around and go up and down steps all without my brace to check for how I was moving and stuff like how stable my knee is.

The physical therapist isn’t a doctor, but for what it’s worth, she thinks that I’ve torn my ACL completely and have a grade 3 MCL tear. The grading was a new thing for me to hear. She also confirmed that there’s a good chance that my meniscus would be torn, probably the medial one, but that I’ll know when I get the MRI.

We also noticed that my left leg has already started to atrophy. I noticed it yesterday, but thought I could be wrong. I didn’t say anything about it, and she brought it up. It’s only been a week and my muscles have started to disappear.

At that point, she started showing me some exercises to start building up my muscle strength, which is good to do regardless of whether or not I end up getting surgery. If I opt to not get the surgery, I’m going to need to build the muscles up to support my knee. If I do get the surgery, the stronger and healthier I am going in, the better off I will be coming out. It’ll be easier to gain strength now than it will be post-op.

After some of the exercises (they weren’t very hard), they hooked up some electrodes to my knee to stimulate the muscles while icing. It was a pretty crazy feeling. It felt like my skin was twitching. It’s kind of hard to explain, but man was it crazy. After that, I was done.

They gave me “homework.” Basically all the exercises they showed me, I need to be doing at home as well. They also told me to continue icing because the swelling is still there. So I guess I’ve been doing things right…. at least with all the ice. I just need to start using it more so that I can build up strength, and that includes not using the brace when there’s minimal risk of someone running into my knee, which is basically only at home.

So for now, I’m scheduled to get PT twice a week for the next 3 weeks, and on the doctor front, I’m still waiting to hear that insurance approved the MRI so that I can schedule it. I’ll let you know when that happens.