On March 18^th my physical therapist modified my PT as follows:

• Heel slides (20)
• Toes to nose (1:00)
• Modified straight leg (30)
• Active-assisted knee bend (20)
• Squats (30)
• Step-ups (20)

The numbers in parenthesis are quantity or time goals.  The Modified straight leg is an exercise where you sit on floor with leg out straight and a rolled-up towel under the knee.  Goal is to lift heel off the floor.  It is the next step in the progression that starts with quad-sets.  The squats are assisted; grab on to a door handle or other waist-height support, then squat down and return, working to a 90 degree bend in legs.  After I reach the goal of 30 I’m to begin pausing at the low point (watch the 90 degree bend in knee), working up to a 5 second pause.  For the Step-ups I started with a 2” step (of books/magazines) and every time I reached the goal of 20 I increased the height of the step.  Ultimate goal is to be able to step up a normal step again.  All of these are to be done 3x daily.  I did PT first thing in the AM, again at lunch (at work), and just before bed.  Sometimes I’d skip one of them on a weekend day just to get a break or because of schedule.

PT is peculiar.  There are times when it feels like literally no progress is being made, or worse, that you’re going backwards.  Odd pains, pops, aches, tiredness creeps in.  I started having problems with my calf cramping up from the exercises.  My muscles felt sore and tired out.  Then one day I’d realize that something that had been quite difficult the day before would ease up, or I’d suddenly realize that I’d jumped ahead quite a bit in range-of-motion.  The trick, of course, is to keep doing it when it feels discouraging.

So, keep doing it!

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Posted by Greg on June 7th, 2011 :: Filed under ACL Files
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