Physical Therapy

I had my first round of physical therapy last night and it was a good thing I wore my workout gear. The doctor had me sit on the bike for a good 10 mins to “warm me up”. I was embarrassed that my 10 mins caused me to break out in a little sweat. I think the machine said I burned around 40 calories haha. Anyways, the appointment went well and I spent about an hour and a half at the office.

Here is what I learned:

1. My Doctor is pretty cute and young. He’s about 6 feet tall, slender, olive complexion, medium brown hair with green eyes and he’s a DOCTOR. I made a mental note to try and find out if he has a girlfriend. I already found out he is not married through conversation (aka my sly investigative skills). You may wonder why a married gal like me is wondering about my Doctor’s relationship status. Well, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before but I have another job…I’m a matchmaker (or so my friends like to think that). I have matched up friends, some of whom have gotten married, others who are on their way to getting married. People tell me I should charge for this service but since they are my friends, I let it slide. Anyways, Doctor could be a great catch for one or two single friends I have in mind. Thanks to my fabulous friend Lady Google, I found out that Doctor is about 33-34 years old, which makes him the perfect age for my friends. Anyways, I don’t want to jinx this new prospect so I’m going to focus more on the physical therapy stuff and less on the matchmaker stuff for now.

2. My calves are tight and my ankles are weak. Doctor thinks that a surgery I had 10+ years ago on my left ankle could be contributing to the tendonitis in my left knee (he concurred with my physician that it is indeed tendonitis…a result of my marathon training). After walking and jogging for him, he also determined that there is a little bit of an imbalance in the muscle development of my hamstrings and quadriceps. My quads could be stronger.

3. I need to stretch more often and I am not as flexible as I should be. Doctor asked me if I stretched and I responded like a typical runner “Not as much as I should”. Of course I have plenty of time to run but never enough time to stretch. With that, I got my first lesson in stretching. I learned about 5 exercises that stretched my calves, hamstrings and quads. I also learned an exercise to help strengthen the muscles in my feet.

4. Massages are important however they are not the enjoyable kind. While lying on the examination table, Doctor began to massage the outer part of my left thigh. At first I thought to myself that this was nice and maybe part of physical therapy is having your muscles massaged and worked out. Two seconds later, I was clenching my teeth and holding myself back from cursing at him. Doctor actually told me I was allowed to curse at him but I refrained from doing so out loud. He rubbed deep into my thigh and focused on massaging the Iliotibial Band (“ITB”)…it hurt like a b*tch. It was tight and needed to be loosened. Then he began to massage the front part of my calf just below the knee. When he hit certain spots, I could feel it all the way down my shin. I again cursed at him inside my head.

5. My treatment: I am only allowed to do light exercises involving my legs. I have to stretch everyday and do three sets of each of the stretches I learned. Then I must ice my knee for 20 minutes. I also have to visit Doctor twice a week so in addition to teaching me more exercises and giving me the massages from hell, I can be treated with electric stimulation. I was nervous about this after first, but it did not hurt at all and since he had wrapped ice around my knee while the electric machine was doing its thing, it felt fine.

I head back for my second round of treatment on Monday and I’m looking forward to it. I will be sure to provide an update on my knee, as well as the deal with Doctor.

Side note: I had a wonderful day today. I ran for 15 mins on my treadmill at a very comfortable pace. I had a painless run and my knee felt great afterwards. I was tempted to run longer but held back because I do not want to undo any progress my knee has made thus far. Maybe this physical therapy thing is working already?!?!?

Happy Running,
Mishi