Physical Therapy

I learned a little bit from my 2 knee surgeries that I can share. Be patient and disciplined with your PT/recovery. Once you learn the PT routine, you can do most of the exercises at home which is much more convenient. They kicked me out of PT early because I was very diligent in doing exercises on my own. Your knee will tell you when to back off if you are being too aggressive with the exercises. The healing and strengthening process is quite interesting as you progress from day-to-day and week-to-week, much like training for a race. A few setbacks may be encountered, but you will notice relatively steady improvement.

If you have access to a hot tub, I highly recommend it. I found that a few minutes in a hot tub with the jets pointed directly at my knee did wonders for the soreness. Biking and elliptical trainers are wonderful, low impact ways to keep you cardio system in shape, strengthen muscles and assist in getting range of motion back. The quadricep muscle seemed to instantly shrink after each surgery and was very difficult to get back to normal. The bike and elliptical helped develop the quad a lot. I have an both an elliptical trainer and recumbent stationary bike in my den which I use when my knee is acting up.

Hang in there Ron...you will be back on the trails before you know it.

Steve W