Do you know why it’s called physical therapy? Because you need therapy to have the physical portion of the treatment done! Well, maybe not quite that bad, but seriously, it’s supposed to make you feel better….to get there you have to feel the burn!!! (or so I’ve heard) By any stretch of the imagination, the process is strenuous as you regain whatever you have lost in mobility, strength and balance from surgery.
Physical therapy was the next step aiding in recovery after my foot surgery. The Doctor and staff there are a team of professionals whose job it is to make joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments move again after both being repaired in surgery and being immobilized for an extended period of time post-op. These professionals teach you how to use the parts that aren’t working and rebuild their potential making them functional again. Considering my foot had been immobilized for 11 weeks prior to starting physical therapy and I came in on crutches with a pneumatic boot on it, I was under no illusion this was going to be easy.
My first day there was a mixture of consultation, a plan being developed and an initial session to determine how much mobility I had. They took a look at my foot, noting the 5 incision sites, swelling and immobility and after setting the plan in motion, we got started. How much mobility did I have? Not much! My foot moved about five degrees that day and my toes were stuck in a straight out position.
It was kind of like an out of body experience as I watched my toes not respond to my “come on bend” command. Were those my toes? What right did they have to remain immobile when I had asked nicely? I mean really, hadn’t I followed the Doctor’s orders to the letter? Shouldn’t I be able to move something by now? Maybe my brain wasn’t sending the right message or maybe I didn’t have control of my foot any longer. Clearly the toes weren’t planning on doing anything but twitch painfully and not bend at all. The foot, that was a whole other story…so they brought out what I’ll save for the next discussion…..the TENS unit and muscle stimulator!
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