Ankle Roll

Gris said:

update - did get protocol printout fr knee PT folks
But ...
the real 'healing' only came about when i started using it and even pushing it a little
crazy how lame it felt before exercising and how much better it has started feeling since exercising it (after working thru a lil mild pain)
i guess it like other joints in that once you give it time to heal (8 weeks in my case) it becomes all about recovering range of motion

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It can be both range of motion and strength. I had ~6 months of PT following my broken leg and 11 weeks of no weight on the leg. We worked on strength and RoM the whole time. (Toward the end, I was only taking pain meds so the PT could lean as hard as she could on the joint...) I still have, and will likely always have, somewhat reduced knee flexibility. (The knee joint was not damaged in the accident--the damage was the result of two surgeries where they had to go in through the knee joint.)

In effect, I'm still doing PT (exercises to strengthen the bad leg and ROM stretches for the knee) six years later...

Sounds like things are going well (or at least in the right direction).

Doug

DougPaul said:

Sounds like things are going well (or at least in the right direction).

Doug

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Totally, I was actually stunned at how much better pushing it made it feel and wanted to pass that on for others w same ailment...

Gris said:

Totally, I was actually stunned at how much better pushing it made it feel and wanted to pass that on for others w same ailment...

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Yes, pushing through a certain amount of pain is part of the recovery process.

In the case of my knee, it initially hurt to bend it more than ~30 degrees and I can now bend it ~145 degrees. (The good side goes to a normal ~160 degrees.)

I also found that both hard and long, soft stretching* helped me--we used both. (In hard stretching, you push fairly hard which can be rather painful. In long, soft stretching, you push gently to just before you feel discomfort and stay there for an extended period.) Just make sure you don't try to stretch a joint beyond its normal limits.

* In my case, my PT did the hard stretching and I did the long, soft stretching by myself.

Doug