Seem like everyone joined the 2-shoes club today!
Posted on September 14th, 2009 by bubble
Add me to the club of those that went into 2 shoes today (see photo below). I was expecting a little bit more ceremony from my PT but all he said was to put some shoes on and walk around for a bit. I was then expecting him to tell me to get back in the boot before heading out onto the streets. I’ve still got a bit of a limp and have been seriously warned about tackling any hills but other than that I feel great.
After five PT sessions here is where I am at:
- Standing on the bad leg (with no shoe) for 30 seconds three times daily, increase the duration by 10 seconds per day.
- 30x Reverse towel stretches three times daily (with bent and straight knee) with pointed toes and adding a little bit of resistance with my arms
- 30x very light calf raises, up to three times daily
And just as a update on the stuff that I’m still doing from my first PT session:
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As much swimming as I like. No power kicks and no pushing off the wall.
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6 minutes on a reclined exercise bike up to three times per day, slowly increasing the duration by one minute each day.
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30x straight leg light calf stretch with a towel, up to three times daily (basically wrap a towel around your foot and pull back lightly).
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30x bent leg light calf stretch with a towel, up to three times daily.
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30x towel scrunches (i.e. trying to scrunch a towel and lift it between your toes), up to three times daily.
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Then for strengthening of my knee and hip I do 30x front and side leg lifts, up to three times daily.
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Congrats!! Didn’t realize before I responded that you hit 2 shoes today as well. You are doing great for 6 weeks post op…wow!
Congrats.. I joined the club for 2 shoes today as well. I hope we both keep moving by leaps and bounds!
Ryan
Congrats. The two things that really bugged me when I first got into two shoes were uphill climbs and going down stairs. stairs have gotten better, but hills are still a struggle.
Also had the problem of walking with a stiff leg and limp. Highly recommend finding a treadmill facing a mirror to help train yourself out of it.
Good luck.
Congrats! That’s great and so fast!
Best of luck with continued progress,
Sam
Happy for you to be in 2 shoes!
Can you tell me how it feels to do the first calf raises standing up on your weight?
I am curious, because I still I wonder what went wrong with me the first time around….
Thanks All - the next challenge will be remembering to take things slowly as we are still only a little ways down the road to 100%. I jumped out of bed this moring and was about to start walking around before I realised that I should put some shoes (& heel lift) on - oops!
@2nd timer - right now I think that my right (good) leg is pretty much taking all the weight and I’m just getting the feel of the exercise with the left. At the gym I’m using a leg press (i.e. sitting down and pushing a weight away from my body with my legs) at almost full knee extension my PT told me to then try and lift my heels (sort of simulating a jump), I couldn’t do it the first couple of tries but slowly my calf remembered what it should be doing.
@mattachille - thanks for the tip about the mirror and the treadmill, I’ll give it a go.
Sometimes I wonder if I overdid the physio the first time around…. I tried to put some weight on my bad leg and the first calf raises felt like my tendon was going to explode…. also when I got on the treadmill, I guess it was too long too fast because it was very painful.
@2nd timer - not sure about overdoing it. My PT was saying up until yesterday that everything should be pain free. Yesterday (6 wks 6 days post op) he finally said that it was time for me to hurt a little and added more weight to my leg presses.
I’m getting a little pain on the bottom of my heel now after a bit of walking yesterday and the PT session.
Congrats! That’s great and so fast!
thx for information this is very good