I started writing in reply to @Layla’s first post and was interrupted by a telephone call. By the time that conversation was over, there were four additional posts. And there was another one added while I was writing. So here I go. Some things will be in response to multiple posts.
@Layla I re-read the article by Josephine that you included and all of the linked information. I always get additional information when I read something again. I’m splitting the difference on icing. I use it longer than twenty minutes sometimes.
Chris seemed to be a bit taken aback by my pushback today. I told him my knee was stiffer and more swollen after the heel slides and abductions and that I was not going to do them anymore. He looked a bit stunned. He said we have to keep doing them or we will lose the progress we’ve made. I said the heel slides hurt when I did the first one and I don’t intend to do anything that causes pain. He thought for a bit and came up with a standing routine as opposed to the laying down routine. He is concerned about coming up with a program that works for me.
We went into my kitchen, and I stood in front of a cabinet. I rocked up on my toes ten times, then rocked back on my heels ten times. I then barely bent my knees like the beginning of a squat ten times. Then I did a quarter squat ten times. Then I moved my leg to the side to a point where I was comfortable, brought the other leg in, and continued that the length of the counter. Then I led with the other leg and did the same thing back to where I started. i repeated the last exercise. That is all the exercising I did during session today.
Chris was concerned about the pain I had last night. As we talked after the exercising, I said that I held my knee back for ten seconds after he inquired if I did. Then he asked to see the list he had given me for exercising and said he should have added that I was not supposed to hold my knee back, so it was his fault. He said of course my knee will be traumatized! All of the heel slides I had done before were supposed to be held for ten seconds, so I did not know this was supposed to be different. Chris wants me to do the exercises another time today and to text him tomorrow and let him know how my knee reacted to the exercises we did today. I don’t know if I will do the exercises again today; I may decide that I want to know how my knee reacts to doing them once. Chris said he wants to make adjustments if needed tomorrow. I iced my thigh and knee for about 45 minutes after Chris left.
I know Chris has my best interest at heart, but he is a physical therapist first and foremost and truly believes the routine he comes up with will be the best for me since I tell him about any problems as we go.
@Klassy i certainly do relate to not wanting to offend your physical therapist. When Chris started working with me on October 11, I had suffered the excessive physical therapy complication from PT at Baptist Health. He has worked diligently to try to help my knee and to prepare me for the THR. He was limited in what he could do for my right knee because my right hip had collapsed and would not support my weight. So he eventually focused on deep muscle massage to prepare my right leg for the THR. He has never had a case like this before, and he was concerned about treating it properly. I would like to be able to take a week or two hiatus from therapy, work with walking and other everyday activities, and be able to keep Chris as my therapist. But I know I can’t do that, so I need to figure a way to work out a therapy program with Chris that will work for me. I need to convince him that scaling back the therapy until my body is healed from the surgery will be beneficial.
@subie2021 I have walked with a limp for well over three years, so my leg muscles and my core muscles need to be strengthened for me to be able to walk without assistance and to support my back so that I can stand erect. The added complication of the muscle trauma around my right knee because of overly aggressive physical therapy has made the situation more challenging. That is why Chris has worked to lengthen and strengthen my leg muscles and to strengthen my core muscles in preparation for my THR. But he could only do so much since my right leg would not support me. i know I need PT to remedy these problems, but I am doing quite well in recovering from the THR. I think I would be walking with minimal assistance in the very near future were it not for the unresolved problems related to my knee situation. So striking the right balance is important.
@Eman85 i would like to think that I could forego PT and everything would work out okay. And it might. But my physical therapy is paid for by Medicare, so I can’t quit therapy and decide to do it later and it be paid for by Medicare. That is why Chris and I need to figure out the right balance of exercising for therapy.
@Layla Based on my recovery to date, I think I would need a minimal amount of physical therapy for recovery if I were recovering from the THR only, and I look forward to demonstrating that after my second THR on June 27. However, since I have to complete recovery from the TKR that I had on July 19 along with recovering from my THR, my situation is not quite as simple. I know some people have not had and are not having as rapid and non-eventful a THR recovery as I am having, so I feel very fortunate in that respect. Now that I have decided to take ownership of my physical therapy and insist That Chris work WITH me instead of his just telling me what to do, I think I am on the way to complete recovery. At least I hope so.
@subie2021 I agree that what I need as a 78-year-old is different in some ways than what is needed by a 50-year-old. That was one of my major objections to the PT at Baptist Health. They appeared to use the same PT program for me as they did for a 23-yesr-old athlete. I do not think that is appropriate. I am not a typical 78-year-old, of which I am glad, but I think certain concessions do need to be made.
I chose my OS because he uses the anterior procedure and he was highly recommended. Being in a new hospital in which only orthopedic procedures are performed made using him more appealing. I did not have a choice of patient venues like you did, but I am very happy with my choice.
UPDATE: I was re-reading posts and realized that your reference to pt. venues was to physical therapy venues, not patient venues. I had the choice of using outpatient PT at the hospital, home PT from the hospital, inpatient PT at the hospital (although I probably would have not actually had that choice since I was doing so well), or another PT facility. I could have used outpatient PT at Elite, but I chose to continue working with Chris from Elite at home. Since my OS is directly employed by the hospital, using the hospital’s PT would have been using my OS’s PT. I understand that the hospital’s PT program is very good, but I decided to continue working with Chris. I’m glad I reviewed the posts because my comments about venues didn’t make much sense.
I am pleased that I received so many different viewpoints in this matter. They gave me lots of food for thought. Thanks to all of you. I think the different viewpoints are one thing that makes BoneSmart such a valuable website for information. Onward and upward.
United States
But I'm gonna wish and hope for all on this journey to have safe and swift recoveries by whatever path they take
Thanks for sharing your progress. Let us know if you have questions and hopefully we can advise.
