Weeks 8 and 9

Range of Motion:  My range of motion got over 100 degrees.  It's pretty tight at the top but not necessarily painful.  I could sit at my desk basically all day without much discomfort.

Physical Therapy:  At week 8, we got to start doing much more than just muscle stimulation.  Additionally, we began a walking program on the Alter-G.  Basically this machine creates a vacuum around your legs and lifts you up so you are putting only a percentage of body weight on your legs.  You have to put these shorts on that have a hoop-thing that zips you in.  (This doesn't make sense until you see it).  The big advantage is that you can choose what percentage of body weight you want to exercise with; i.e. you can begin walking with only a percentage of your body weight.  We started at approximately 50% of my weight and walked at a very slow pace of 1.1.  It wasn't painful but it was awkward.  I just hadn't walked in two months so it was somewhat challenging but I never felt like my leg was going to buckle from under me. 

These are the shorts that you wear (over your clothes).  Around your waist is the part that zips into the Alter G.

From the waist down you are enclosed within the Alter G.  

In addition to the Alter G we began some biking during Week 9.  We also started doing some actual exercises but none that involved any knee bend.  We did variations of standing on my right leg on top of a piece of memory foam and doing various motions to disrupt my balance such as tossing a ball.  We continued with the Graston tool and also did electrical stimulation.

Pain and Swelling:  My pain was pretty rare and if it was present it was typically a brief moment of pain and did not last long.  I still had a decent amount of swelling and the atrophy is pretty visible still.

Overall Thoughts:  Weeks 8 and 9 were probably some of my toughest mentally.  At this point, I really felt like it was getting hard to just "weather the storm."  My entire summer was spent basically indoors and it got lonely and isolated at times.  I was increasingly more irritable and felt like I had a short fuse.  However, I never felt any sort of regret or second guessed my decision to go forward with surgery.

Weeks 6 and 7

Weeks 6 and 7 were generally the same.

Physical Therapy:  Unfortunately, we were greatly restricted on what we could do.  Because my defect was on the patella, I could not do any active movement with the joint loaded in a flexed position.  So basically all I could do at PT was the following:

• Range of Motion:  My physical therapist would actively work on my range of motion.  He would have me sit on the edge of the table with my legs handing off the side and work it back so that I was going beyond 90 degrees.  This was very stiff at first and painful at times but over time it relaxes.
• Graston Tool:  Graston is a form of manual therapy known as soft-tissue instrument-assisted mobilization. It is one of a number of manual therapy approaches that uses instruments with a specialized form of massage/scraping the skin gently.  Basically, my physical therapist would use some coco-butter so the tool would glide easy over my quadricep and then use one of the metal tools for soft-tissue massage.

• Electrical Stimulation:  Conductive pads are placed at locations on the quadricep and electrical stimulation is sent through the pads directly onto the muscle.  It does not hurt and at most is uncomfortable or just weird.  My physical therapist usually asks me to contract my quad when the stimulation is present.  

Range of Motion:  This has basically been the biggest goal of this initial phase of rehabilitation.  When I first started working on range of motion with out my CPM it was profoundly uncomfortable and at times painful.  But, like most things, the more you do it, the easier it gets.  I was particularly motivated to get 90 degrees comfortable as soon as possible so that sitting in a chair would be comfortable.  Having my leg in the brace and sitting on the edge of my chair has just been really uncomfortable and made my back get really, really sore.

Pain and Swelling:  Pain is not present all the time but it's not totally gone yet.  I would still get a fair amount of tenderness on the patella, sometimes to the point that it was tender to the touch.  Swelling has been the most troubling aspect of it for me.  When I look straight down, my right knee just looks huge from that vantage point.  I still ice every day but it seems like I still have a fair amount present.  This is one issue that if it's not resolved by my next appointment that I hope he will consider treating. Perhaps by draining the knee.

Sleeping:  Sleeping has gotten much better.  Now that I have a little more range of motion, I can bend my right leg, which just allows me to get comfortable and switch sides without as much effort.

Social Life/Mental Aspect:  My social life has been nonexistent.  It's just so hard getting in and out of cars and frankly, this process just makes things not as enjoyable.  I hate that people stare and that it draws attention.  Additionally, while it is nice that people ask me to do things, often times people don't think about it from my vantage point; i.e. how easy would this activity be in a brace and on crutches.  Lastly, you will learn quite quickly who your real friends are and who you can really count on.  I just remind myself that it's only a few more weeks before I'll have much more autonomy back and can start to transition back into my regular lifestyle (somewhat).