Physical Therapy

I went to my first physical therapy (PT) appointment Wednesday. I was really happy everything could move so fast. The faster I get started on a recovery program, the faster I can start running again.

The first PT appointment started with a general intake (What hurts? Where does it hurt? How often do you run? What's your sports history? Any previous injuries?...). He then started stretching me out so I could point out to him exactly where my leg was hurting. Then he sent me off with an intern to start all my exercises. I did some wall press with muscle stimulation, StairMaster work, stretches, StairMaster and then some ice and muscle stimulation. At the end my PT diagnosed me with achilles tendinitis.

Believe it or not this diagnosis is pretty good. I didn't tear my achilles. I will be able to run again. The injury doesn't mean that someday I'll hurt my hip or knee because of it. The whole situation is manageable with a little TLC. The PT says he'll have me back running by the middle to end of next week. The more PT and the more time I can devote to it, the better I'll recover and the sooner I can get back.

I went back for my second PT appointment today. I did a few different StairMaster exercises, a couple muscle stimulation sessions - one with balance, one with the wall press, some leg press and some ice and stimulation. It doesn't sound like much, but a lot of this stuff is new to me so it's really working some different muscles. I regularly run and do yoga so the weights and StairMaster are totally new sensations and I'm liking it.

I'm allowed to do whatever this weekend except running. I can do the elliptical as hard and as long as I want. I can lift weights. I can do yoga. However, I have to be able to do all these things without any pain. That's the key. So my plan is to jump on the elliptical and have some fun with that - I'm being positive here because I hate the elliptical - and then lift some easy weights and do my normal yoga. So we'll see how things go.

Oh and on Monday I got for an ultrasound of my leg just so they can rule out that there is no blod cotting going on.

On the road to recovery! Let's hope this is the shortest road ever!