Painted Toes

Hello all-

Yes, you guessed correctly. I am now officially full weight bearing! I went to PT on the 15th and was instructed that I was no longer to use crutches. I am officially walking now. But, don’t tell anyone-I was already walking after the last PT last week-I really didn’t need the crutches.

The PT introduced me to new exercises. First was the toe raises-I sat on the edge of a bed and planted both feet neutrally on the floor. Then I pushed on my toes to raise my heels off of the floor. Wow. I truly took things for granted-it was very difficult, but I was able to get off 10 repetitions. My calf muscles were sore after this activity. PT recommended that I do this at home 4-5 times a day.

Secondly, the PT introduced me to inversion, plantarflexion, dorsiflexion (eek), and eversion exercises. Basically what I needed to do was to use my hand to manipulate my foot into an inversion position, then do that ten times. I did the same for eversion of my ankle. Plantarflexing my foot was easy as we all know that the casts/boots force our foot into that position for TOO long Then the worst one of all: dorsiflexing my foot. I was very nervous because it was the first time since the injury that the tendon was stretched-other than passively through the heel lifts. The PT pushed my foot up until I told him it was becoming uncomfortable. He said this is where I should be pushing my foot 4/5 times a day for 10 reps. My tendon feels very very tight and short and this limits my ability to dorsiflex-but over time this should not be a problem.

Thirdly, this is my favorite exercise. I was to stand on my two feet and lift my good leg and to count 10 seconds. Man!!!!! I have NO balance on that foot. Good thing I was standing between the parallel bars. It took a couple of tries before I was able to stand on it for 10 seconds without falling over or flailing my arms wildly!!! It was still fun though! I think next week I will be asked to stand on my bad leg with my eyes closed.

After that I walked out of the clinic without crutches. Such a liberating feeling-8 weeks of dependence out of the window, yay!!!!!!!

My cast will remain on for another 4 weeks until I get my leg strengthened to withstand dorsiflexion.

So, it is for sure that I will walk down the aisle as the matron of honor without any crutches! Whew. At least I have pink straps on my cast to match my pink bridesmaid dress

Till then!