Physio

September 24, 2015

I don't think my in-home physical therapist has ever had a cycling patient before. 3 days a week for 30-45 minutes, she arrives and puts me through a series of exercises. Every time we add one to the circuit. At first it was an ankle flex exercise:

Next is a Quad flex (aka: try to put your knee through your bed):

And a Glut squeeze. All sitting up in bed. Next is a leg lift with a pillow under my knee:

And last but worst (at the time), is an abductor/adductor exercises. I couldn't do this at all without her assistance lifting my leg. Then each time it was an added exercise. First was to keep my foot on the mattress, and then flex my knee and slide my ankle towards my butt. Normally this wouldn't be bad, but because of the pin they put into my leg for traction, any Quad exercise is pain and limited motion. Next was adding the abductor/adductor swing while standing up with the walker. Then taking my foot and sliding it back behind me, as if I were ice skating. Then a leg lift getting my knee to a 90 degree angle -- again difficult because of the pin in the leg. Today's add was, while sitting in my chair, keep my foot flat on the floor and flex my knee to a > 90 degree angle. Man the pain because of that pin. Everything else is fine, but that pin. But she was impressed with how I was able to keep going just that extra bit, and I told her that pretty much she would have difficulty finding a sport whose athletes pride in being able to suffer and cause themselves pain, so going that just a little bit more is normal for me. In a race with no tactical advantage, the cyclist who has the ability to endure the most pain for the longest usually wins. So being able to endure more and more pain is a competitive advantage, so hopefully this will be in my advantage for recovery.
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