Day 11

Day 11

Today, I observed a ski racer who previously suffered a complete ACL tear along with a partial meniscus tear. Since the surgery, she has dealt with chronic issues in the back of her knee and developed a Baker’s cyst. Today, she was receiving stimulation treatment to help flush fluid out of the area and reduce swelling. It was interesting hearing how this has continued to bother her long after the original surgery.

We also saw the man with the total ankle replacement again. He is still a very active person and also has Parkinson’s disease. Diane’s focus with him today was increasing ankle mobility. She manually pumped the ankle back and forth, trying to loosen the joint. There was a lot of visible pitting edema around the lower leg and ankle, and just watching her move it, you could tell there was barely any mobility in the joint itself. It was extremely stiff. After the manual work, Diane applied stimulation to the ankle to help reduce the swelling. She explained that stimulation works especially well for ankle joints.

I also worked again with the patient who suffered the double quadriceps tendon tear. After about 10 minutes warming up on the bike and doing some calf stretching, I helped put him through balance exercises. I asked him how the balance work felt today, and he said it actually felt pretty good. He mentioned that he mainly felt it in his calf, but also got a solid quad workout since the quadriceps are heavily involved in preventing the knee from buckling during standing. He had seen his surgeon earlier in the day for his 3-month post-op appointment. The surgeon told him it should take around 6 months to feel good again, but closer to a full year before he is completely cleared. He also got transitioned into a shorter brace today. One thing that continues to stand out about him is how positive and humorous he is about his injuries. That mindset has clearly helped him throughout recovery. He genuinely enjoys coming into the clinic and uses both work and everyday life as motivation to keep improving.

Another patient came in with a bilateral malleolus ankle fracture. Fortunately, the fractures were not displaced, because if they had been, surgery would have been required. Diane’s goal was to help him return to a normal gait pattern. He was walking heel-to-toe, but he was not fully pushing off through the foot while walking. Diane also had me try to figure out how to put on the smaller brace he is transitioning into. It was surprisingly complicated and definitely made me realize how much detail goes into proper brace fitting and positioning.

Hours today: 4

Total Hours: 51