My first attempt at a straight leg raise was futile-the quads simply did not want to acknowledge my command to lift! That gave me quite a chuckle.
My PT then spent a good 15 minutes with gentle massage on the quads to loosen and wake them up, then the usual heel slides and quad sets with towels rolled under the knee or the ankle.
I had full extension, which was not surprising since the immobilizer holds my leg almost all the way in extension. My PT picked up the leg and I was astonished to see very close to 90 degrees flexion with the PT bearing the weight of the leg. No official numbers, but that's a helluva start.
Once we got the quads wakened up, we did some straight leg raises, making sure to engage the quads first to wake them up. Just 10 of those was enough to get my hip flexor complaining!
Finally, we strapped the immobilizer back on, and he took a check of me walking. I had a pair of crutches, but was able to bear weight on the reconstructed knee quite well--another shocker.
Since then, I've set aside the crutches except when traveling out of the house. Protocol asks to bear weight on the leg right away, so I'm using the walking stick around the house. We'll see how I feel tonight, and maybe I'll carefully ascend (with lots of supervision, and backwards) to the second floor and sleep in my bed tonight. Though the couch is mighty comfortable, the hamsters running in their cage keep me up at night!
I continue to be narcotic-free, eating well, and am strictly on ibuprofen at this time. Overall I'm feeling much better than I expected, except for just a general sense of tiredness which I attribute to my body's response to surgery.
OK, picture time!
Does this make my leg look fat?
Cryo Cuff: your best friend post-PT!
Button at the top connects to the hose for chilled water.
3 days post-op, swelling's not too bad:
The "OK" is Dr. K making sure he works on the correct knee!
Sorry for the mess, I plan to wash up that leg later today.
Arthroscopic pics below:
skip this part if you get queasy about medical pics.
Nice, clean meniscus:
Good cartilage, too:
Torn ACL stump, no wonder it felt like a wrench in the works:
New ACL (kinda pretty and glimmery!):
4 comments:
I don't know but I think that they clean up the girls more than they do the guys for some reason. My bottom incision was messy looking like that too though. Most of my steri-strips are off now and the incision is really not that bad. I'll post pics when the last couple fall off.
Your swelling is not bad at all, and it sounds like you're doing great. Once you get those quads to start firing, the leg lifts come much easier. Are your incisions (not poke hole ones) on the same side? It looks like they are! Mine are opposite sides of the knee. Weird.
It sounds like it made a big difference that you took care of your leg and your meniscus wasn't damaged. I damaged mine in the injury and then later when I kept trying to use the leg, and I had to keep off it because of the meniscus repair.
Keep up the good work!
I've got 5 incisions total, not counting a tiny poke hole just above the knee that was probably used to pull the graft through and required no stitches. Everything is just as you see it, so I'm guessing my surgeon used a technique that minimized incisions.
That's interesting. I have four incisions (two poke holes and two larger straight incisions on either side of the knee), plus that nick on the thigh (no stitches). I wonder what that fifth one is for-maybe just used as a drain during surgery.
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