Saturday, March 29, 2008

Leg Press Woes

I want to thank Jed for posting information about his weight lifting progress after ACL surgery. After reading about the leg press, I started thinking about the strength of my leg. I have been back to my normal activities including karate for several months. I was told when I started PT that it would take a full year to recover pre-surgery strength. I had the hamstring graft so several of my exercises had to wait until the hamstring healed.

Here is my problem, my health insurance only covered 60 consecutive days of PT from time of injury. At six weeks post-op, I was given a rehab plan to follow and sent on my way. I then saw my PT at 12 weeks for a consultation and additional exercises. I have been working on my rehab at home and adding additional exercises on my own as I felt ready. Now I am at 10 months and my knee feels good. However, there are times that my leg feels weak. I decided to find out the strength difference between my left and right leg.

My first try at the leg press was on Wednesday night and it was a disaster. I felt terrible about my leg strength. On Friday, I tried again with much better results. Based on the leg press, my right leg is still weaker than my left. It was time to call the PT to discuss my findings. I called but she was out for the day but will call me back on Monday. My hope is another consultation and a new "plan".

I must say that at first I was worried. Then I realized that I have been doing everything that I want to do. My knee does not hold me back. I am glad that I checked out how much I could leg press on each leg. It gives me a goal - to balance my leg strength.

1 comment:

Nonblond said...

I'm so glad that you (and others) are posting about these experiences. I definitely will start using the leg press machine at the Y as soon as I am able to try to get a jump start on getting my strength back in that leg. Please keep writing for those of us who are still at the beginning of this journey!