Monday, February 18, 2013

Physical Therapy Begins!

My therapy involves low weight, high repetitions, all on the side of the body with the bad knee. Surprisingly, this is tiring. I was also told to ice my bad knee after I skate. So there's your little health tip for the day.

Still, I'm in much, much better shape than anyone else in the therapy gym except the cute guy in his 20's who's recovering from some sports injury.  One of his exercises was to stand on one foot, on a therapy cushion, throw a ball at a rebounder and catch it on the way back.  They're at least not starting me on that. I just have to stand on one foot on the therapy cushion and not fall over.

"You can touch the barre for balance," the technician told me, "if you feel you're going to fall over. Just don't use the barre to hold you up."

I stood on the cushion, took up my ice dance posture, and raised my left foot. 15 seconds, 3 times. I never touched the barre.

The technician was impressed.  "You're doing better than I could," she said.

Well, we all know the reason why, don't we.
I . am . a . figure . skater!

(We'll see if I'm this smug when they make me stand on one foot and throw that ball at the rebounder. I can't even catch a ball if I'm standing on two feet!)


4 comments:

  1. When I was in PT for my ankle, I had to do that exact exercise: stand on the cushion and throw the ball at the rebounder. It was my favorite exercise. But at first, the hardest part for me was throwing and catching the ball!

    There's a reason why all my favorite sports have involved balance, and not hand-eye coordination!

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    1. I'm useless in any ball sport; I have no depth perception. So, no jumping for me!

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  2. I swear sometimes physical therapy treats the ego as much as the injury. When I was got hurt, I was injured among athletes and it was awful. Then I started PT and I was an athlete among the injured. It was awesome and super-motivating. Keep showing them how it's done, my friend! You know the other patients are looking at you and thinking, whoa...she's cool.

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    1. Thanks for the encouraging words, but aside from young sporty guy, the other patients have much worse conditions than a bum knee. I'm just happy to not be them. It's like when I go to the VA--I'm the only person not using at least a cane. I feel guilty about my good fortune.

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