The PT Plan
3x10 leg lifts (all directions = X 4)
2x10 hamstring knee bends
2x10 quad knee bends
2x10 quad press
3x10 shallow assisted squats
2x10 'stork' leg balance
3x10 weighted (~4#) leg raise (45°)
10min cycle (forward till pain, then reverse till pain)
2x10 resistance (PT) leg press
Last time I made it through the cycles and managed to do 3 min of full rotations. Today I was tighter. I was able to do the whole rest of the sets without too much trouble, but the hamstring bends are hard. I measured my thighs this evening. My left is over 1" smaller in diameter!! it's got noticeably lest muscle. This is from ~12 days of reduced use! The lesson: don't skip workouts. I'm now allowed to bend my knee freely and bare full weight, however, so things should start improving quickly. I was actually able to use my left leg to lift my body up a few stairs on the way home. Still a lot of scar tissue to work through especially under the patella at ~45°. Active knee bend at 90° and passive knee bend at 97°.
Prepare for my return (slowly!)...
4 comments:
Just curious, which leg is dominant for you? My right leg is noticeably bigger than my left, so maybe some of that 1" is just asymmetry. On the other hand, if you were left-dominant, you likely lost more than 1".
Thankfully though, muscle grows fast when you ask it to, and it seems like all that PT will do the trick.
What does it mean that there is scar tissue? Will movement alone just break it down?
Glad to see you moving again.
I agree with Brian, there's an awful lot more baseline asymmetry than people imagine - try measuring your arms sometime.
Then again, sounds like you're had a recent measurement, so this could be atrophy.
I am right leg dominant, but after my right knee injury (more than six years ago now) I did PT to even them up. At the time the asymmetry was a bit over 0.5" and I worked to equalize them (so they were less than 0.25") . I don't know what my measurement was going in but I'd be willing to bet that I'm still a bit right dominant, but that it was on order 0.25".
So lots of protein and exercise and the leg should come back up. The scar tissue is another story. It's definitely there and it is primarily broken down by movement. At PT they also use electrical stim to help reduce swelling (mechanisms still unclear) and break up the scar tissue (micro contractions?).
I'll measure my arms (because I need even more reason to be embarrassed.)
Well, a good reminder to do unilateral work:
lunges
suitcase deadlifts
unassisted DB rows
overhead lunges
split squats
...
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