Pardon me for being unable to update the site as frequently as possible for the past few weeks. But I have an excuse: I was busy rehabilitating my right knee, which underwent arthroscopic surgery on July 7.
The rehab was not grueling, but it was enough to remove my usual daily activities. The first two weeks were difficult to bear. The muscles and underlying tissues around the operated area were still painful, and moving them—laterally—rang up the pain notes in my nervous system.
The exercise set was simple and designed to regain mobility in the affected area in the least possible time. But the frequency—five times daily—was too time-consuming, so I had no other recourse except to deal with them during most of my waking hours.
While lying on my back, I did knee-joint presses and simple leg raises. Again, the hip raises require both knees to be flexed. Another routine involved bending the lousy knee as far back as possible while my legs were dangling on the bed’s edge.
While seated, I had to bend my hips towards the knee with the awful leg straight up and the excellent leg flexed. A challenging routine involved both knees bent, my back against the wall, and then moving the hip joints up and down. It was painful.
Some exercises required using a rubber tube (for resistance) attached to the ankle of the good leg. The excellent leg propped me up and involved moving the affected leg in all four directions as far as possible. One exercise involved trying to walk as straight as possible on a 3″ wide by 8″ long piece of wood.
Finally, there was the one that required me to move up and down a flight of three-step stairs—backward.
They all stressed movements on the muscles around the lousy knee to drain any fluids accumulated in the knee joint areas. When used up after a rigorous exercise, the myofibrils (tiny fibers that comprise the muscle) tend to ‘soak up’ any fluids around them. Much like the same way we crave water when we’re exhausted.
—links:
www.healthatoz.com
www.kaiserpermanente.org
www.arthroscopy.com