MUA LTKR, 8 weeks out; MUA at week 5; worried about ROM

Ha! That's a Great Idea! :walking:
We all write in to say how many minutes of runway walking we've done akin to how many minutes or Km/miles on a bike.
 
@Polkadot, can you think of anything you may have done to set of the back pain? I really hope the massage will *nip it in the butt/bud*....that, and some simple stretches are always my go to remedy. Generally, it works, so crossing all digits for you.

Last night, it occurred to me that there are many parallels between learning to walk again properly and learning to ski. When I first started skiing (late, around 25 ) I was clumsy and took many lessons each year. For a few years, I never seemed able to really advance, and never understood why until I found a book that explained it all in very simple terms. Skiing is *body knowledge* as in, the energy from your core gets transferred to your legs and feet and your feet become *One With the Mountain.* This means you are not consciously thinking about your ski run but allowing your lower body to do the *thinking*. Once I really understood that, I advanced rapidly.

So, when we stand from having been in a sitting situation for too long, we are employing conscious thought to our next move which results in hesitation. Our core and legs have not as yet become *one* with our knees and feet. You cannot get safely down an icy slope if you hesitate, nor can you just glide across the room doing the same. It will take time and practice before the body seamlessly *knows* and recognizes our new knees are part of the package. But....it WILL happen! And when it does, we will all walk like Gisele, or Cindy Crawford, lol.
 
I know what I wrote above about skiing/walking has a very Zen tone, and ...it is.:SUNsmile: The book I referred to was actually translated from Japanese and was based on their approach to skiing and many other movements that require proper core posture and strength. A weak core=poor posture, bad backs, painful hips and Frankenwalking. So, I am very fortunate to have Gary, who understands that proper walking isn't just about the knees. He always *sees* and addresses the whole person and works with me to correct whatever might be throwing me off kilter. I could spend the rest of my life visiting Gary and still have more to learn about proper body mechanics.:SUNsmile:
 
@Phoebe52, I hate to think this, but the only thing I can remember doing beforehand was sitting too long in feet down position. I may have been slouched or hunched to protect my knee after a while and didn't know it. Sometimes my back acts up if I sleep crooked, which is also possible, given my gyrations to get comfortable at night. I think the sore hip is a reaction to the ouchy back. It overcompensates and tries not to give the back any more pain. I am so reminded that everything is connected!

For the longest time, my regular doctor and assorted specialists to whom she referred me couldn't decide whether my walking-pain problems that sent me to them originated in the old back injuries; the arthritis in the hip (no one ever tells you where that comes from!--one day, it's just there); the ankle I broke and later severely twisted on the Great Wall of China, no less; or the knees, which appeared for quite a while to be the least of my worries! I fervently wish that the foot doctor had been the correct expert when he decided that my problem was that one leg was 3/16" shorter than the other and made me custom orthotics! Then I would not be having such "fun" with this recuperation! :happydance: Of course, then I would not have met all of you. Everything has a silver lining, I guess!:martini:

I am in tune with your thoughts on zen walking. It all makes sense, particularly when you tied it to body knowledge and taking up skiing. While I'm not much of an athlete, I have watched my twin brother (yes, I have a "real" twin!) learn to ski and then rehab himself twice--once after breaking his leg in 6 places in high school, and the other in his late 20s when he fell off a cliff onto his back. I remember especially the second time, when he watched videotapes of skiing and mimicked the motions of the skiers. He was reminding his body that it did know how to ski!
 
Polkadot...i just had to laugh when you used the word "gyrations" after previous posts mentioning "pelvis pop", wondering if Elvis needed frequent pelvis adjustments, and pheebs' blue suede shoes lol. my dad always referred to the king as Elvis the pelvis and i do remember his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show although i was only around 6 y.o. your brother sounds like quite the daredevil ~ is he okay now, all in one piece? did the custom orthotics help you in any way or is it that the length discrepancy wasn't the source of your other issues? it's true everything is connected ~ i found that out from a kinesiologist when i had plantar fasciitis and he started out working on my lower back and had me doing core exercises.

i hope you can find something to help with your back pain. i think we need to make an appointment with "gary glitter" and he will help us with our body mechanics. in the meantime we can meet with him vicariously through @Pheebs52 . feel better and remember to get up and walk around every so often when you're working on a project.:flwrysmile:
 
Huzzah, huzzah! Big news! I rode the upright bike at PT today for 10 minutes. Conquering the hip rising and the knee not wanting to bend took the first two minutes or so, but then I was riding in pretty good form! Must be a shift for the better in my flexion.

Thank goodness for the improvement. I kneeded some good kneews. Yesterday I was at the bottom of a deep pit. I felt like I wasn't handling the recovery well; that I should be "sucking it up" more; plus, a return of the worries that I needed to be exercising madly--where did I put those charts?!? It was a whiny, horrible day, where the mild discomfort of a recovering knee was just too much.
 
@Pheebs52, I think you and Gary should do some You-Tube How-To videos for us. Then we could all be his clients! You could start with how to walk.

(After my MUA, I found two PT guys who put out a bunch of short videos on how to do heel slides and the like. They were wryly funny and made the whole process seem do-able.)
 
I found two PT guys who put out a bunch of short videos on how to do heel slides and the like. They were wryly funny and made the whole process seem do-able.
Are these the 2 PT's that call themselves the most famous PTs on the Internet? I can't remember their names, but I did watch a number of their videos.

Yesterday I was at the bottom of a deep pit. I felt like I wasn't handling the recovery well; that I should be "sucking it up" more; plus, a return of the worries that I needed to be exercising madly--where did I put those charts?!? It was a whiny, horrible day, where the mild discomfort of a recovering knee was just too much.

I am sorry to hear that you were having such a difficult time. I can certainly relate! As a matter of fact, I have quite the collection of t-shirts as a result if you are interested. :snork: (ref: been there, done that, bought the t-shirt) Given all that you have gone through, I won't even charge you for shipping and handling. No need for additional stressors.:) I don't know that I could handle having staged TKRs, so kudos to you for doing so well. I would say that you are more than entitled to some down days, not that I would wish them on you or anyone else. There is nothing that you need to be sucking up more! Come, relax, vent, scream, holler, yell, have a tantrum, whatever helps! We are here for you, and we get it! Oh, and try some ice cream. It is the wonder cure for everything, including down moods, bothersome knees, sore throats, etc!:yay:
 

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