Recovery from my meniscus surgery has been going really well and with it being less than a month since, I’m much further along than I anticipated. During my first physical therapy session, my PT let me know, unsurprisingly, I may be a candidate for arthritis as I get older, but it would likely not affect me as much as others. This was also true for the knee recovery and steps necessary to improve; due to my powerlifting training, he said I have a different relationship to pain than most people. This didn’t surprise me either, but I found it helpful to hear this directly from a physical therapist that specializes in sports medicine. I’ve gained an awareness of pain, an awareness of the different levels of it, ‘good’ pain vs. ‘bad’ pain, and where my limits need to be. I think this awareness likely started in my youth when I experienced a crushed vertebrae, then finally years later found that strength training could help my body overcome a lot of the discomfort I felt with a weakened back.
The meetings I’ve had with the physical therapist have been fantastic and I’ve learned a number of movements to strengthen my knees, quads, and hips that I will likely use even once the recovery is complete. I’m also fortunate enough to have a leg press machine in the garage gym that my precious wife had got me. That thing and my foam roller have been vital in the knee recovery. Today my PT saw how far my recovery has already come along and gave me the OK to start doing light deadlifts to see how they went, with the directive of “for now, walk away from them still wanting more”.
Did my PT work:
- foam roller
- leg press (0 weight, just the sled)
- body weight squats (holding a strap around the power rack to stabilize)
- 1 leg squats (holding strap)
- 1 leg lunges (holding strap)
Then I got to do a little lifting:
- Deadlifts (225 x 5 x 4 sets) [left wanting a LOT more, but hey, progress]
- hanging leg raises
- reverse hyper (only 90 lbs, again, light to let the recovery continue)
So dang happy to be back out in the garage gym.
