Knee Update : "No Pain, No Gain!" @ 14.75% Recovery

The saying "No Pain, No Gain" is true! I am at week 3 post-recovery, 14.75%. Surgical cuts are healing, bruises are gone, and swelling is down.

Let me tell ya, it has been a very slooow and painful 3 weeks. Slowly, but surely I am making progress, with each knee-workout session to bend that knee past the point of comfort and then some more, as much as the pain is tolerable.

The doc has a detailed protocol and outline of where my knee should be each week. I started off a little behind the curve at week 1, with a 60 degree knee bend. I had a target of 90 degrees by week 2, and did due diligent with extra pain sessions from the PT and from Ryan, the knee was able to flex an additional 30 degrees to hit 90 in 4 days time. Those were 4 insufferable days. End of week 2 was uplifting to see the progress and a little bit of leg strength coming back, enough that I felt comfortable (at home or work) to walk about without the robo-leg brace on.

However, the suffering must continue. Week 2, I continued the due diligence. PT prescribed 10 reps of leg lifts. I did 25 reps/3x a day. I did multiple sessions on my own to work on range of motion to increase the flexion. In addition, I do 1-2 hours of rumble rolling a day. Yes. This is a full time job. Week 2 was, like the prior week, difficult. My ROM did not budge from 90, even with all the additional rehab I was doing. I was stuck there. Not only did I not see progress, but even these simple exercises of bending the knee and leg lifts, by the end of the day, the knee was so sore and painful, that I could barely walk. Week 2 was tough to not see the same progress as week 1.

First day of Week 3, I hit a minor break through. Ryan continued to do nightly pain PT sessions with me and last Thursday, I finally broke through to 102 degrees flexion. This Monday I measured 112 degrees flexion. Getting past the 90 was key. Now sitting is a little bit more comfortable. Moving about is a little easier. The surgical cuts are healed and scar lines now remain. Bruising is almost gone and swelling is now only in the knee area. The focus has shifted from ROM now to getting the quad to fully activate. It is still sub-par. Quad muscle is currently below the curve, while ROM is now above the curve. In addition, PT has been working on breaking up scar tissue that has formed in the knee area. PAINFUL! There is this torture cupping device that uses suction with the intent to "lift" up the surface layer skin and to break up the scar tissue that keeps the skin from moving around the knee. PAINFUL! I feel sharp twinges as the various scar tissue is snapping underneath the skin.

I look forward to when I can finally have a full night's sleep without waking up with knee pain to change out the ice pack. I'm hoping that'll be the next break through... in the meantime, I'm going to keep chugging away at rehab with the motto "No pain, no gain".