I am having a love-hate affair with the leg press. Right now, I can press 65 pounds with my left leg. This is compared to the 130 that I was pushing prior to the second surgery. I need to hit at least 120 to start running again. It is a bit frustrating because I try to push but I'm hitting a wall. What people don't always realize is that after a surgery, muscles around the area tend to shut down. With the knee, it is the quads. It takes about 6 weeks for the muscle to regain the neuromuscular function and to start getting bigger. So no matter how much weight I try to push, there is no getting around these 6 weeks. The compounding effect of 2 surgeries plus and injury may make make strengh gains proceed more slowly. Only time will tell.
In PT I'm doing pretty much the same as I have been doing: Leg press (single and double leg), hip flexion and extention, calve raises, balance drills, squats on an unstable platform. I started working on going down stairs. Right now, I can go down step over step if I have a handrail. I just don't have all the strength back in order to lower myself under all my own power. Even with this muscle weakness, I have to say that this is the best I've done going down stairs since my injury last August. I'm not very fast but I'm better than I have been.
On a brighter note, I got back into the pool on Monday. The first 1000 yards it felt like I was swimming in mud. After that, it got a little easier. It will still be several weeks though until I get my strength and endurance back in the pool.
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Jill--Where are you? Would love to hear how things are going? Are you on Facebook?
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