So today, I had my first physiotherapy session. It started off quite stressful as we couldn't find a parking space any where in the hospital. They really need to get more parking spaces - it's a joke! Then, when we finally parked and got into the physio centre, we had a small error when they couldn't find me on the system but luckily, we got sorted.
I only waited about five minutes before being called into the physio room where I made my Mom leave. I had to sit on a chair and my physiotherapist (Lauren) closed the curtains. We talked about my leg and what they had already told me. She said it's stupid that I haven't been having physiotherapy for the last seven weeks, when I was told that I couldn't start physio until after my MRI scan which I only had yesterday! I had to give her loads of details, from the moment I did the injury to now, and then had to fill in a 'fitness' form.
The fitness form had lots of questions on it and had numbers from 0 to 4 next to each activity. You had to rate the difficulty of each activity - 0 being impossible or extremely difficult and 4 being easy. A fit person, like I was before my injury, should score as high as 80 points (full) - I scored just 13.
She took a look at my photo from my MRI scan yesterday and said she couldn't give me the full results as she's only trained to look at certain aspects, but she could tell me that my ligaments aren't torn like they thought (meaning my chances of having to have surgery are reduced!) but are severely stretched, and that my kneecap is still attached but very loosely. It's better news than we expected but still not good. I will get my full MRI results on Thursday.
We did some exercises that really hurt and she seems to think that my accident was different to what other doctors have said. Previously, I'd been told that my knee had dislocated which had caused my quadricep muscle on that leg to die over time as it hasn't been used. However, she said it looks as though my quadricep muscle was the first thing to go as that supports your kneecap and that it slipped out of place due to my loss of muscle. Until that quadricep muscle is healed, I won't be able to walk properly.
I've been given some painful exercises to do and I can start using my leg to walk on as long as I don't do much and am supported by crutches or a person to slowly rebuild my quadriceps muscle.
Exercises to practice after week one:
1. Putting my leg with my heel on the floor and try to get my knee as close to the floor as possible, so that my leg is straight.
2. Sitting on the floor and trying to bend my knee up. (Current measurement: 60.)
3. Sitting on a chair and trying to pull a piece of paper towards me on the floor.
It's going to be a long and slow recovery, but I just have to do it one step at a time.
Exercises to practice after week one:
1. Putting my leg with my heel on the floor and try to get my knee as close to the floor as possible, so that my leg is straight.
2. Sitting on the floor and trying to bend my knee up. (Current measurement: 60.)
3. Sitting on a chair and trying to pull a piece of paper towards me on the floor.
It's going to be a long and slow recovery, but I just have to do it one step at a time.
Clare
xxx
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