I went into PT yesterday not feeling very good about my progress so far. I (thought I) had worked rather hard on my knee the past couple of days to try to increase my range of motion. First thing we did when we got there was to measure the amount of swelling and my range of motion. The swelling was about the same and I only gained a couple of degrees of ROM.

I think my PT saw the fact that I was disappointed with my progress so far. She called another PT over that has had some experience with Carticel to take a look. First off she didn’t seem concerned with the amount of swelling that I had on my knee. She then went through some initial tests to make sure that there were no calcium build-ups that are impeding my motion. Good news seems that there aren’t any. The next thing we did was some aggressive (another way of saying painful) stretches and exercises. By the end of that I was able to get a ROM of over 80°.

Next they had me get on the bike. They wanted me to start doing half moons but I was able to do full pedals (at no resistance and slowly with pain). I continued to do this for about 45 minutes while receiving electro-therapy. At the end of my session we did another measurement, the swelling was the same but I had 90° ROM. I was very happy with the progress of that session.

The reality! This coming Tuesday will be six weeks after the surgery. At six weeks the goals are to have full passive knee extension, minimal pain and swelling and a ROM of 120°. The only goal I have reached is the full passive knee extension. I’m going to work my ass off this weekend to increase my ROM but 30° in a couple of days will be a lot. The other issue is that my insurance only covers the PT for 60 concurrent days so I really do not want to fall behind on the rehab schedule. This afternoon I’m going to stick my way over to the gym to ride the bike. I hate walking around on the crutches in public (I have to go about 6 blocks to get to the gym) but I need to start seeing progress.