OCD, Brostum, etc - now in PT - Foot Problems Message Board

jprinz99 · 10-01-2006, 10:14 AM

Well time to start a new thread...

I started PT last week, finally. Have my original therapist which is wonderful. It was almost like a homecoming since I had been there so long before the surgery. I am working on ROM and strengthening, ultrasound and e-stim, scar breakdown and nerve desensitization therapy.

Most of it is not painful but the nerve desensitization is a real bear. Very painful. Brought tears to my eyes and I am not a huge wimp. This part is going to be the hardest. I am discouraged at how week my leg and foot are. I find itt dificlt to do leg raises (no weight yet) and am perversely amused at how my leg quivers trying to hold it. 5-6 months of incapacity really takes its toll. My calf looks like a childs. In time this will all come back, but I have to remind myself this a temporary issue due to a long standing problem.

Tried out the brace while walking. My PT made me use the crutches and had a belt on for safety. Felt odd to be balanced as the boot makes my right/bad leg longer. My hips felt funny being level. I did it with no problem, but he was not happy with my knee hyperextending. Said it was due to calf, ham and quad weakness. Really concentrating on proper foot fall and gait. I just want o get from point A to point B - patience is not my strong point.

In the boot while not in PT (MD orders), but I cheat at home all the time, even walk w/crutches while barefoot. Not much pain at all, just rather stiff. Achiles is really tight.

I will attend PT 3times a week for 6 weeks; each session last about 1 1/2 hours or so. They are pretty flexible with the "time" and seem more interested in getting things done properly than in how much insurance pays for. What a nice change from most places, eh?

I do get a bit embarrassed when I see older folks or bigger 'scars' outdoing me, but I have to remind myself I had alot done to this ankle that it not easily visible to others. Perhaps I should tattoo my foot with a reminder to not compare myself to others - ha ha. After all, it is not a competition.

Have home eercises which I do, but hate the hip exercises. PT leaves me worn out in a good way and a bit painful. Had to take a pill after first full session (now I know why doc said to keep them for PT as I would want them)
Have plans to be in only the brace by Halloween. Gotta have a goal!

jane

MFord1206 · 10-01-2006, 11:39 AM

Hey Jane!

Therapy...isn't is great? lol Glad to hear that you're over your ear problem and able to get started with PT. When I went back for the first time a few weeks ago, my therapist joked with me that he couldn't believe I hadn't been there in a whole year! I think this is my 6th go-round with therapy on the ankle. My PT told me that he wants to name a wing of the building after me, since I am such a frequent flier..lol

You're lucky...I've never gotten ultrasound or e-stim. My PT is very gung-ho with a git-r-done attitude and always jumps straight into strengthing, stretching, and ROM. I bet that nerve desensitization is painful! The only pain I have during PT is when I have to do eversion on the KinCom machine, and when my therapist stretches me out before I go home. I've been in PT for 3 weeks now and my calf at first was flabby and ugly, but now I can see muscle coming back, slowly. It just takes time.

I cheat all the time with the boot. I am too supposed to be in it 24/7, unless I am at therapy. I hardly ever wear it at home...but I do wear it when I go out because with my luck, i'd leave the house without it, and then run into my OS or PT somewhere and get in trouble. I may get to "boot the boot" tomorrow if my ankle tests out at least 50% strength tomorrow when my PT tests it.

My therapist keeps telling me how big of a procedure I had done (we both had the "never done that before" procedures)...so scars are no indicator of severity of condition! I proudly show off my ugly and scarred ankle...it's a trophy of all this ankle has been through! I am really stiff too, but my PT assured me that it will loosen up (not the repair, but the ankle joint itself). Like everything else, it just takes time.

Well, I am glad to hear PT is going well. Getting through this PT is just getting us one step closer to being able to resume our normal, mobility filled lives! When do you see the OS again? I go back Friday, and am hoping to hear that I can get released to go back to work soon.

Take Care!

Megan

davidstone · 10-01-2006, 01:39 PM

Wow your PT sounds really high tech. I had OCD (microfracture) and Bostrom on 10 Aug 2006 and my PT just seems to consist of flexing exercises and not much more. They certainly don't seem to be interested in putting much time in or treating me anything other than a quick in, quick out 'conveyor belt' type patient

eko · 10-02-2006, 06:45 AM

Jane,

Glad to hear you are progressing. Your PT sounds like a bear, mine was never that extensive, but then again you have been off of it for a longer time.

Don't rush yourself, do it right, but a little cheating it okay, we all do it.

Take good care, and here is to getting back to "normal."

~Ellen

jprinz99 · 10-12-2006, 07:28 AM

Well, I have progressed to walking/gait training while my PT holds on to me with the dreaded belt. I am really off balance and left ankle rolls a lot. Had a bad time Friday - I had started to "play catch" while standing. Left ankle got really bad and my right knee consistently hyperextends. Ended up sprainig my left ankle, cranking the knee and strainig the ACL and PCL ligaments and cranking on the right ankle's repair job. What a mess I am.

Had to see the ortho Monday due to the injury. Now am in matching ankle braces and a custom knee brace. Told me the left foot needs to be fixed and both knees need to be repaired and cleaned up again (had bilateral knee ops 10 years ago and need two knee replacements). I swear it never ends! I look like the bionic woman wearing all this hardware - ha ha! I refuse to wear the left knee brace (gotta have something look normal)

I am now wearing the belt, the hardware and TWO SHOES (insert big grin on Jnae's face) while in PT and at home. If I am not belted and being held by my PT, I still have to use the crutches as I am very wobbly. I wear the boot/and left brace while out and about, with crutches for balance/support. Do the sit down/raise from a chair with no hands (can we say hello quads and hammies? Working primarily on standing up and maintaing/getting balanced while on the big foam mat or the carpeted floor. I stand with both feet apart, together or toe to heel. I spend a lot of time playing catch with the big yellow ball. Maybe I should call it "play therapy"???

Still get ultrasound and heat at the start, do exercises, do my gait training, do my balance/cath on the big mat and at the end I get e-stim and ice. You should see the size of my foot after PT - quite impressively puffy. Yesterday I was there 3 hours - once done, I couldn't walk on the right leg and spent all night propped up in recliner (and had a pill or two). The lfet ankle was sore too. I was a mess. Eegads, this is tough stuff.

My whole body feels like I have done hours at a gym - even my gut somehow gets a workout doing this balance/proprioception stuff. So much for thinking I should join the Y.

Jane