Shock the monkey

Lots of electricity today at PT rehab for me. The head PT is back from his 6-day test, so he put me through all sorts of painful manipulations of my knee. It is always interesting (and quite uncomfortable) when he's doing this, but I try to concentrate on what he's telling the student because it's neat. Kind of like my own personal Discovery Channel special about how a knee works! Both of us wish that I was further along in my progress, so today was very aggressive treatment at the clinic since I am doing well with all the rehab exercises at home, only I'm still not developing enough strength to be able to walk unaided. Makes absolute sense to me for them to "bring the pain" there since I don't have any of that equipment at the house...

I found a link about the new knee pain I mentioned in an earlier post. The one developed during rehab and was a minor setback of about a week. Check out this page and scroll down to the "History" paragraph for the short answer.

That has some good information about the inflammation of my Popliteus Bursae medial (inside) of my knee joint, irritated as a result of my (much) weakened quads. Some over-exertion at some point likely caused this. Who know how... Might have even done it in my sleep. My quads in my left leg are far less capable than those in my right, and even though I'm exercising with maximum reps several times a day at home, I'm just not able to gain the strength (and the related knee control). Grr!

Also, since the muscles aren't able to work properly due to my continued issues with effusion (fluid around my knee joint), it's making it difficult for me to develop strength there. It is interesting to me how the presence of fluid "notifies" the muscles not to attempt to exert on the knee as a way of protecting it from further damage. All well and good, only I'm needing to circumvent that somewhat to progress in my rehab. That condition is causing the most hindrance with the rehab. You can click on this article with a lengthy name and look at "Conclusions" near the bottom of the page.

Also, that's how they are addressing this now (cold and electrical stimulation) to overcome this since I should be more recovered than I am now. They've always done that at the end of the sessions, but now it is more aggressive, with 2 sessions. The first being the normal stimulation to the quads where I perform a strong quad set while the power is on, then rest; repeat. The second is the application of (quite a bit) more current/voltage with my leg elevated and wrapped in the cold therapy wrap. Pretty uncomfortable until the numbness from the cold started!

Hopefully this will allow me to progress better. It certainly was MUCH more of a "workout" feeling in my knee area than normal, and for some reason I'm feeling tension not just in my knee and leg, but throughout my body. I feel like I've done a proper "workout," and not just had electrodes hooked up to my leg. Even worked up some sweat in the process today, and now I feel like soaking in a hot bath.

Strange, but I can deal with some pain if it means progress. I really need to get back on my feet again and be able to start walking and such again so I can lose the weight. Here's to that goal! :)