Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Life is good

Today in my physical therapy session Debbie had me warm up by cycling for five minutes and then proceeded to break up the scar tissue surrounding both patellae using the Graston Technique. It was followed by a few dynamic stretches and exercises before running. Yes, I finally ran. I was suppose to run Friday but I missed my appointment. I went in at 2 pm instead of 1 pm. I rescheduled the appointment.

The last run I ran was the Sawyer Camp Trail run in early December so running today felt great. I ran for 20 minutes at a pace of 6 km/hr on a treadmill. But I didn't run on an ordinary treadmill, no sir, I ran on an Alter-G treadmill. It's a treadmill that defies gravity. How does a treadmill defy gravity you ask? Well, I put on some fancy pants that zip up and seal my legs in a bubble that encases the treadmill and my legs. The bubble is then filled with air that gently holds me up. It literally feels like running on air. Is any of this making sense? No, I didn't think so. Here's a picture. Don't be fooled though, I ran indoors.

While in the bubble I was suspended momentarily and ran using 65% of my body weight. After five minutes I ran on 75% of my body weight and I didn't feel any knee pain! Hurrah! I'm feeling great and I hope to be running soon, but I shouldn't get ahead of myself. We'll see how I do running on all my body weight first.

More good news: Debbie examined my knee and noticed the position of my patella has moved in the right direction. It's not fully in place yet but I am making progress! After a couple of weeks of exercising and pushing down on my patella the knee pain is now gone! I wish I can say the same for my right knee. Don't worry; Debbie is helping me out with my right knee as well.

Ah, life is good.

1 comment:

J9 said...

wow, this is great! Keep it up...