Did therapy work for anyone?

[Guest guest]

I have this great new PT and I have noticed about a 90% improvement in

my grade III chondomalacia. My surgeon cancelled my surgery because I

am doing so much better. I'm really happy about that. However, I'm

really worried about what will happen when my PT is over in 4 weeks.

I'm scared it is going to start hurting again. Has anyone gotten

semi-permanent relief from PT?

[Guest guest]

Quick -- what did you do to get that improvement????

Ann

Did therapy work for anyone?

I have this great new PT and I have noticed about a 90% improvement in

my grade III chondomalacia. My surgeon cancelled my surgery because I

am doing so much better. I'm really happy about that. However, I'm

really worried about what will happen when my PT is over in 4 weeks.

I'm scared it is going to start hurting again. Has anyone gotten

semi-permanent relief from PT?

[Guest guest]

Strength training. My PT believes in strengthening everything to

avoid pulling or straining. Basically I work every muscle group in

my feet, ankles, legs, and hips. He has me doing straight leg raises

with a small weight on my ankle and flexing the inner thigh muscle.

I do them laying on my back and also on the side. I do calf

strengthening on the total gym straight leg, lifting my weight by

raising and lowering my foot only. I am also doing a lot of balance

type activities as my knees and ankles are extremely weak and I can't

stand on one foot. Every exercise is done straight leg so it doesn't

strain or cause rubbing inside my knee. I was told to avoid any

exercise activity that involves bending my knees past 30 degrees. He

also rolls my outer thigh from my knee to my hip to help loosen and

lengthen the outer muscle, which is tight and pulling my knee

sideways. I cannot believe the difference just doing these exercises!

I was very skeptical at first as my prior therapist made everything

worse. Basically, everything my prior PT told me to is on the list of

things my current PT told me to not do.

> Quick -- what did you do to get that improvement????

>

> Ann

> Did therapy work for anyone?

>

>

>

>

> I have this great new PT and I have noticed about a 90% improvement in

> my grade III chondomalacia. My surgeon cancelled my surgery because I

> am doing so much better. I'm really happy about that. However, I'm

> really worried about what will happen when my PT is over in 4 weeks.

> I'm scared it is going to start hurting again. Has anyone gotten

> semi-permanent relief from PT?

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

It sounds like you have had the same experiences I have had. CP takes a

very specific PT program, or you just make matters worse. There are too

many PTs and doctors who just do not understand CP. I do straight leg lifts

with weights on my ankles, and my knees actually feel better while doing the

exercises, but if I try to do anything over 30 degrees and the pain can be

overwhelming. If you manage to get the inflammation and pain under control,

then you can move on to deeper knee bends.

Mike

MT

Did therapy work for anyone?

>>

>>

>>

>>

>> I have this great new PT and I have noticed about a 90% improvement in

>> my grade III chondomalacia. My surgeon cancelled my surgery because I

>> am doing so much better. I'm really happy about that. However, I'm

>> really worried about what will happen when my PT is over in 4 weeks.

>> I'm scared it is going to start hurting again. Has anyone gotten

>> semi-permanent relief from PT?

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

[Guest guest]

Yes! finding the right PT is very important. I've been round the block when it

comes to seeing PT's now and the difference between being merely adequate to

being rigorous is vast. I think most PT's are competent (in the British Health

service at least) but in my experience they offered me generic solutions to a

problem which is always going to be more specific. I could have saved them time

and money if they had just lent me their text book which they'd followed so

meticulously from!

It was very refreshing to be seen by someone who was far more empirically

thorough, looking at the whole chain, and for me especially, my day to day

postural bad habits, using my knee joints to support myself rather than muscles,

leaning on 1 leg all the time etc.. these things are in themselves innocuous but

accumulate and together with training too hard too quickly on the bike etc. the

problems become sustained. I was almost in protest at the beginning when I

wasn't given the usual VMO program by the new Physio but instead given more

balance like activities, aswell as strengthening glutes, hams and abductors. I

can ride tube trains now without having to hold onto anything (most of the

time!)

As we all know on this group, these things rarely disappear overnight and though

by no means am I out of the woods yet, I've been able to put in more miles on

the bike this last month than the whole of the summer, the post ride crippling

patella aches feel alot less intense and more manageable, and all the ITBS

niggling soreness I was getting this time last year have seemed to have cleared

up.

Another quality of a good PT I found was that in those moments of despondency

when nothing seems to be working (lots of those moments, and probably a few more

to come) was that giving up the bike was just simply NOT an option. It doesn't

help anyone (unless its truly critical)

The previous PT pretty much said give up the bike, give up work for 3 months and

sit down pressing a ball between your knees.....it gave me a couple of proud

VMO's but not much else.

bcprincesso <twolittlesweeties@...> wrote:

Strength training. My PT believes in strengthening everything to

avoid pulling or straining. Basically I work every muscle group in

my feet, ankles, legs, and hips. He has me doing straight leg raises

with a small weight on my ankle and flexing the inner thigh muscle.

I do them laying on my back and also on the side. I do calf

strengthening on the total gym straight leg, lifting my weight by

raising and lowering my foot only. I am also doing a lot of balance

type activities as my knees and ankles are extremely weak and I can't

stand on one foot. Every exercise is done straight leg so it doesn't

strain or cause rubbing inside my knee. I was told to avoid any

exercise activity that involves bending my knees past 30 degrees. He

also rolls my outer thigh from my knee to my hip to help loosen and

lengthen the outer muscle, which is tight and pulling my knee

sideways. I cannot believe the difference just doing these exercises!

I was very skeptical at first as my prior therapist made everything

worse. Basically, everything my prior PT told me to is on the list of

things my current PT told me to not do.

> Quick -- what did you do to get that improvement????

>

> Ann

> Did therapy work for anyone?

>

>

>

>

> I have this great new PT and I have noticed about a 90% improvement in

> my grade III chondomalacia. My surgeon cancelled my surgery because I

> am doing so much better. I'm really happy about that. However, I'm

> really worried about what will happen when my PT is over in 4 weeks.

> I'm scared it is going to start hurting again. Has anyone gotten

> semi-permanent relief from PT?

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

thousand plateaus <thousandplateaus@...> wrote:

Yes! finding the right PT is very important. I've been round the block when it

comes to seeing PT's now and the difference between being merely adequate to

being rigorous is vast. I think most PT's are competent (in the British Health

service at least) but in my experience they offered me generic solutions to a

problem which is always going to be more specific. I could have saved them time

and money if they had just lent me their text book which they'd followed so

meticulously from!

It was very refreshing to be seen by someone who was far more empirically

thorough, looking at the whole chain, and for me especially, my day to day

postural bad habits, using my knee joints to support myself rather than muscles,

leaning on 1 leg all the time etc.. these things are in themselves innocuous but

accumulate and together with training too hard too quickly on the bike etc. the

problems become sustained. I was almost in protest at the beginning when I

wasn't given the usual VMO program by the new Physio but instead given more

balance like activities, aswell as strengthening glutes, hams and abductors. I

can ride tube trains now without having to hold onto anything (most of the

time!)

As we all know on this group, these things rarely disappear overnight and though

by no means am I out of the woods yet, I've been able to put in more miles on

the bike this last month than the whole of the summer, the post ride crippling

patella aches feel alot less intense and more manageable, and all the ITBS

niggling soreness I was getting this time last year have seemed to have cleared

up.

Another quality of a good PT I found was that in those moments of despondency

when nothing seems to be working (lots of those moments, and probably a few more

to come) was that giving up the bike was just simply NOT an option. It doesn't

help anyone (unless its truly critical)

The previous PT pretty much said give up the bike, give up work for 3 months and

sit down pressing a ball between your knees.....it gave me a couple of proud

VMO's but not much else.

bcprincesso <twolittlesweeties@...> wrote:

Strength training. My PT believes in strengthening everything to

avoid pulling or straining. Basically I work every muscle group in

my feet, ankles, legs, and hips. He has me doing straight leg raises

with a small weight on my ankle and flexing the inner thigh muscle.

I do them laying on my back and also on the side. I do calf

strengthening on the total gym straight leg, lifting my weight by

raising and lowering my foot only. I am also doing a lot of balance

type activities as my knees and ankles are extremely weak and I can't

stand on one foot. Every exercise is done straight leg so it doesn't

strain or cause rubbing inside my knee. I was told to avoid any

exercise activity that involves bending my knees past 30 degrees. He

also rolls my outer thigh from my knee to my hip to help loosen and

lengthen the outer muscle, which is tight and pulling my knee

sideways. I cannot believe the difference just doing these exercises!

I was very skeptical at first as my prior therapist made everything

worse. Basically, everything my prior PT told me to is on the list of

things my current PT told me to not do.

> Quick -- what did you do to get that improvement????

>

> Ann

> Did therapy work for anyone?

>

>

>

>

> I have this great new PT and I have noticed about a 90% improvement in

> my grade III chondomalacia. My surgeon cancelled my surgery because I

> am doing so much better. I'm really happy about that. However, I'm

> really worried about what will happen when my PT is over in 4 weeks.

> I'm scared it is going to start hurting again. Has anyone gotten

> semi-permanent relief from PT?

>

>

>

> HI HAPPY NEW YEAR

WELL MY EXPERIENCE WAS NOT THAT GREAT WITH THE FIRST TIME IF HAD PT AFTER MY

SURG. I HAD NO PAID TILL THEN BUT IT WAS LIKE SWELLING AND FELT LIKE I HAD

RUBBER BANDS ALL AROUND MY KNEE VERY TIGHT COULD NOT BEND KNEE OR ANYTHING FOR

WEEKS HAD TROUBLE GETTING LEG STRAIGHT ALSO. THAT TOOK MONTHS, BUT MOST PEOPLE

PROBABLY DO MUCH BETTER. ITS BEENA YEAR NOW AND STILL HAVE SWELLING AND HAVE TO

WATCH SOME THINGS SUCH AS NOT TOO MUCH WALKING OR EXERCISE.

LIN

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

> However, I'm

> really worried about what will happen when my PT is over in 4

weeks.

> I'm scared it is going to start hurting again. Has anyone gotten

> semi-permanent relief from PT?

Yes, but think of it has a life-long commitment...

You just have to be careful to avoid allowing yourself to be in the

same position that allowed the problem to start in the first place.

This means not letting the muscles that contributed to the problem

getting overly tight or weak and avoiding overuse. This is easier

said then done!

Before your PT is over work with your physical therapist to come up

with a PT plan you can do at home. (You may even be able to start

doing a home plan before the PT prescription is over & save money.)

In any case, start doing a home plan while you are still going in to

PT so that you can work with them on any problems that may come up.)

In the long term, as your body slowwwwly recovers (joints take a long

time to heal) you will probably be able to ease of on doing the same

routine that you are doing now and come up with a " maintenance

routine " and start doing more areobic exercises that exercise the

whole body, though you will probably always want to do some of the

more critical muscle specific exercises and stretches.

I try to be good and do these things but I sometimes slack off. The

chondromalacia won't automatically pop up when I do this, but I know

that I am at increased risk. So if I go out and run hills or climb a

mountain in this condition, I'm practically asking for a reoccurence.

That's what I mean by avoiding overuse.