Physical Therapy was a Blast all for One Day! Week 6
Physical Therapy was a Blast all for One Day! Week 6
Well here I am checking in with you during week 6 and on last week I was in for a Big surprise… Physical therapy. I visited my doctor a week ago after checking my leg, he advised me to work on getting more range of motion in my ankle. He also asked me to wait 2 days and then take out one heel wedge in my boot to stretch out the achilles a little more. Before I left his office, he handed me a Prescription for setting up my physical therapy and requested that I call and get everything setup.
Fast forward a few days and I called and set everything up to go in on Friday for an evaluation and get the ball rolling. I went to the physical therapist office, completed some paperwork, met with the therapist, took off my boot for the evaluation and after a few stretches, the therapist asked me to do a few exercises such as heel lifts, pick up some marbles with my toes and drop in a bowl, write the alphabets with my foot to work on the range of motion, etc… I did great!
Now being all excited, I called my doctor to give him the news and after going through my activity at the physical therapist office, my doctor’s office manager told me to WAIT before I started the actual therapy until I come back to the doctor for my next appointment in two weeks. I was disappointed at first because I felt I did good with therapy and I had booked the next 30 days with time and appointments. However I have to keep in mind, that this is a lengthy journey of healing that I am on and for me to get back to working out strong and hopefully not suffer any re-ruptures and long term damage, I need to take my time and go through the proper process that my doctor ordered.
A few days after therapy, my achilles tendon area is very sore, I mean very tender to the touch. While I was going through that one therapy session, everything felt good however now I am almost kicking myself because it felt like I may have pushed it a little too far and now I am left to deal with some “unnecessary pain in that area.
Well, I have 2 weeks to continue icing my foot down, taking the last heel wedge out and being careful with my activity until my next doctor appointment. Until then, I will say, get a full and complete understanding as to when you should start your physical therapy. Even if your doctor give you a prescription for physical therapy, it is likely to be for the setup of the initial evaluation and nothing more or nothing less.
Be STRONG!
P. “Action” Jackson
pjackson@theactiononline.com
Filed under: Achilles Boot and Exercises and tagged achilles rehab, ankle bands for therapy, ankle exercises, ankle range of motion, physical therapy, soreness in heel
Wow…I started PT at 12 weeks and went about 3 times and quit. To me it felt like they were just showing me what I had already been doing and learning from others on youtube and here. I am now at 24 weeks and I feel great. Thank you Jesus! I followed the functional non op protocol I found on this site and also Brady Browne’s non op rehab on youtube. Those 2 sources were my bread and butter. OS didn’t do much for me and PT really didn’t do much for me personally. You’re right, this is a long journey so waiting a couple weeks here and there are very minute in the long run.
It is not uncommon to feel fine while doing a new movement only to find pain/swelling/or just general discomfort later. It is also common to hear the cliche’ “listen to your body”. I found that the body is not always a good key in discerning when to stop.
The key is incremental rehabilitation and a good therapist will understand this. What that means is trying a new movement a few times and no more even if you feel like you can do more and then waiting a few days to see how the body responds. If it responds well you can do the original set/reps and INCREMENTALLY add more over time. Always give the body time before adding sets and reps. The PT will know the exercises to do and the reps/sets to start with.
Don’t be surprised if you have more swelling/discomfort than you have had now that you’ve started PT. For example I had minimal swelling/discomfort post op until week 8 when I started standing up movements in PT. I hardly had to ice. Weeks 8 - 16 as I progressed in PT I was often sore and icing after each session was common practice. I iced each day 2 to 3 times up until month 7. Though we are all unique in our healing it is more common to be sore & need to ice than not.
It is worth talking this over with your PT. There is a fine line between STOP pain and discomfort and they can help you discern that….for me I had to learn that line by being super aware of what I was experiencing before, during, and after PT. BTW I am just about 9 months post op. now.
Best of luck to you.
Sorry to hear your doc is holding you back, but he has your long-term health in mind (mine waited until week 8, too). With two more weeks of healing and resuming PT, your progress will really take off.