Knee Rehab Update

Today I had my one month followup with the orthopedic surgeon, as well as my regular weekly PT session. The good news is that I continue to show improvement, and we're not going to even discuss surgery unless I plateau in my progress.

When I first started rehab, my left leg muscles had atrophied to roughly 50% of the strength of my right leg. Today, when we did the strength test, I am now at 76%. That's a lot of improvement for one month! I was pretty excited about that. When I start to get close to 90%, the therapist wants me to try skating again. Right now, that's a scary thought. There are still a lot of clicks and aches inside my knee for me to get used to first. Also, the kneecap is definitely still looser than my other one, so there is still some tightening of the ligaments that needs to happen.

Overall I am pleased. I am slowly regaining the ability to do stairs pain free, thanks to the many exercises that are targeting the strengthening of the quad, particularly the VMO, which is the little knot of muscle just above the knee towards the inside of the knee when you contract your quad. To play along at home....put your leg completely flat out in front of you on the floor or bed, toes pointed up. Squeeze your quad down hard - like you are pushing the back of your knee down through the floor. A little knot of muscle should be visible just above and to the inside of the knee where your quad attaches into the knee. If your kneecap is a clock with 12 o'clock pointing up your leg, it's at about 11. That's your VMO, and in my bad leg, that part of the muscle had completely disappeared and turned to jello. I'm happy to report it has been sighted again!

A side effect of all this rehab is that I am at the gym many times a week and have developed an interest in a more general workout, so I've set a goal to lose 15 lbs. by our Disney trip in November. I want to reduce my weight in order to reduce the forces on the knee when I do get back to skating. So far so good, lots of exercise and lots of salads this week!