Recovering From Microfracture Surgery

K+53 days

1 hour of spin bike with resistance for about 12 miles.

200 reps of strength exercises with last 75 reps with 5lbs of weight on leg. Knee feeling better after a little rest yesterday.

K+54 Days Post Microfracture Surgery

BYU is back in school so my work schedule is picking up again as well. So a long day with Physical Therapy at the end of the day and then watching James run a Cross Country race. He ran a 2K race in Kiwanis Park and won by a good distance. Check his blog out to see his results after he posts them tomorrow.

Today included 2.5 hours on bike for a total of 30 miles on the bike. I did a sub 12:00 5K on the bike today towards the end.

Also did several hours of strength exercise at home for about 200 reps with 5lbs of weights on leg.

Then spent my normal 2 hours at physical therapy as well.

A long day and time for rest.

K+55 Days

Very sick today with bad head cold. Still managed to gt in about an hour on the bike and the normal strength exercises. Long day at work to top it off and just crashed when I got home. 

K+56 Days (Eight weeks post microfracture surgery!)

Still very sick today but forced myself to get in 2 hours on the bike 2 hours of physical therapy and about 1.5 hours of extra strength exercises. A long miserable day being sick but refused to let it stop me from doing what needs to be done. I would write more details but I need to crash again.

K+57 days

About and hour on the bike and 200 reps of strength exercises. Walking is slowing getiing easier. 

K+58 Days

300 strength reps today and 1 hour on the bike plus lots of standing and walking today. Knee still gets stiff towards the end of long days like this but it does seem to be progressing. 

K+59 days post microfracture surgery

100 reps of strength exercises with weights and 30 minutes on spin bike.

Follow up appointment with doctr tomorrow along with physical therapy. We will see what he thinks progress wise.

K+60 Days (wow 60 days has passed since surgery!)

So, today was 60 days since I had surgery.

This is what my day looked like. 

5:30am - Wake up and hit the spin bike. Did 1 hour on spin bike with the last 30 minutes adding a bit of good resistance which made me work a little cardio and actually break a sweat. This was harder then normal but it felt good to have to breath and sweat a little. Yes, the PT cleared me to start doing this a little more.

6:40am - 100 straight leg lifts, 100 side leg lifts, some stretching and range of motion work

7:30am - Time to clean up and get ready for physical therapy and doctors appointment

8:00am - Take off to PT

8:15am - Physical Therapy (2 hours):

    - 15 minutes of heat pad on the knee to loosen things up

    - 5 minutes of heel slide range of motion work

    - PT checks things out and decides it is time to add a few more activities to my routine

    - 10 minutes of quad flex exercises and more leg lifts

    - 10 minutes on exercise bike with higher resistance (working harder and sweating again!)

    - 10 minutes on the elliptical, a new but somewhat welcome addition. I am not a big fan of the elliptical but I was able to get my heart rate up to 125 range for this 10 minute period and no real pain to speak of. Again nice to do a very small amount of cardio.

    - 10 minutes on a strange machine, kind of like a stair step machine but only sitting down. I could really feel this working the quads so this was good as well because they still need a lot of work.

    - Dr. showed up and visited and checked things out. Things look good overall. However, he was a bit surprised that my quad has not responded to all of the work I have been doing faster. He said I have some major muscle inhibition going on. For now not much to do except keep working hard.

    - 45 minutes or so on the weight machines and sliding squat torture machine. A total of 10 different exercises doing between 30 and 50 reps on each.

10:15am - Change and off to work all day. It is at least getting easier to go up and down stairs now. I can actually do it half way normal just in slow motion. No real pain!

Home from work for dinner and family time until 8:00pm.

8:00-9:00pm - More spin bike and leg lifts.

That brings me to now, time to ice the knee and go to bed so I can start it all over again tomorrow. However, I cannot complain because I have to many blessings in my life to do so. This is just one hurdle to continue to overcome and it is a small burden at that!

Enjoy life and remember to be thankful for the blessings in your life!

K+61 Days

Same old routine different day.

1.5 hours on bike with resistance again and working pretty hard towards end. Also leg reps with weights.

Nothing exciting today except I had a good day overall. This was the first day that the knee did not seem to get very stiff at all even towards the end of the day. In the past as the day progressed the knee would stiffen up and things would get worse. However, today it felt pretty good all day long and even tonight it is still doing pretty good. Hopefully this is a sign that I am turning a corner with the leg strength issues.

:-)

K+62 Days

1.5 hours on bike and more leg strengthening exercises. Not a bad day today but not as good as yesterday. Knee was back to feeling a bit more stiff today.

Tomorrow makes 9 weeks since surgery. So 2 months down and at least 2 months to go before I can even dream about trying to run again. I guess the optimist in me sees it as half way there, hopefully! 

K+63 Days (9 Weeks post microfrature surgery!)

1 hour of spin bike and 100 leg strength reps at home

Physical Therapy: 2 hours with highlights below

10+ min spin bike with a 5K covered in 10:27 on level 7 resistance

10min on elliptical machine covering 0.9 miles

10min on strange sitting stair step type machine

Then 10 different weight strength exercises on the machines I am up to 70, 85 and 100lbs. I started at 40, 55, and 50lbs and this was tough so the left leg strength is getting decent.

Added a new balance exercises which was very tough on the left knee. 120 reps total which was very hard.

So the PT does not need to see me for 4 weeks now. He said I know all the exercises he can teach me for now and I am on my own to get the leg stronger for the next 4 weeks. I guess this is a good thing but it was nice having the PT to talk to on a regular basis. I am putting together a new training schedule for next week that should be good.

K+64 Days

Busy day. Managed 1 hour on spin bike and some strength exercises but not as much as normal. 

 K+65 Days
 

Another really busy long day. On feet all day long so used the leg a lot. Only managed to get in an hour on spin bike. However, being out and about all day was a good workout for the knee. Pretty tired by the end of the day.

K+66 Days

Sunday, day of rest before I start my new workout routine tomorrow. 

K+67 Days post Microfracture Surgery

Started new rehab routine today at BYU gym. Below will be my new Mon, Wed, Fri routine.

5:00am wake-up

5:30am start workout at BYU gym.

100 push-ups

100 sit-ups

15 minutes on spin bike

15 minutes on elliptical

15 minutes on sitting bike

12 different weight machine exercises for legs of 30 reps each machine

Back on bike or elliptical for any remaining time until 7:30am

Before bed do 30-60 minutes on spin bike or elliptical plus 5 leg strength exercises

Pretty long day and leg muscles are tired but a good routine for building leg strength.

K+68 Days (I think)

Easier day but still 1 hour of spin bike and 100 strength exercise reps. Also did 50 push-ups and sit-ups. Legs still a bit tired from yesterday. So back at it again tomorrow. 

K+69 days

So tomorrow makes 10 weeks since the microfracture surgery.

Up at 5:00am again for another day on the new hard day routine at BYU gym.

100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups.

15 different weight machine leg strength exercises with 30 reps on each machine.

15 minutes on the elliptical.

15 minutes on the sitting bike, pushed it and actually had heart rate stay between 140-150.

15 minutes on regular spin bike.

This workout is tough but good. Hopefully the leg will really start to strengthen up.

K+70 Days (10 weeks post microfracture surgery)

Well time sure flies as I am now at 10 weeks since the surgery.

A very long busy day at work today so not as much physical therapy as I would have liked.

30 minutes on spin bike, 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups.

100 reps of leg strength exercises.

So overall things are ok with the knee but still not feeling 100%. I can walk mostly normal but by the end of the day I still have a slight limp. The muscles are just not coming back as fast as I would like but all I can do is keep up the rehab work and just continue to have patience. Progress is progress even if it is slow. 

K+71 days

Continued with Mon, Wed, Fri hard day routine.

Knee ok but again very slow progress.

5:00am-7:30am at BYU Gym

100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups

15 minutes sitting bike covering 4 miles (heart rate 140-150)

15 weight machine exercises with 30 reps per exercise

15 minutes of elliptical covering 1.25 miles

K+72 Days

Long busy day on feet most of day with lots of walking.

K+73 Days

Day of rest. 

K+74 Days

Normal harder monday routine.

15 weight machine exercises for legs.

15 minutes on sitting spin bike covered a 5K in sub 11:00 and got heart rate up to 150.

15 minutes of elliptical. 

K+75 Days

Easy day today. Need to get back into a better routine on tuesday and thursday but my schedule is a bit busy right now. At least I am getting in hard days on Mon, Wed and Fri. I think I will add more cardio type work on tuesday and thursday next week to supplement the Mon, Wed, Fri routine.

Knee still not stable and still having some minor pain issues with walking up stairs. Approaching 3 months and still not feeling great. Although I do have some times when I feel like jogging but just have to remind myself that I am no where near ready for that.

K+ 76 Days

Normal WEdnesday

5:00am Wake-up

5:30am-7:30am Workout at BYU

100 Push-ups and 100 sit-ups

15 minutes on sitting spin bike, total of 4.4 miles also hit 5K in sub 11:00, heart rate to 145

13 weight machine leg exercises of 30 reps per machine

15 minutes on elliptical, total of 1.33 miles with heart rate around 140

Another day complete!

K+77 Days

11 Weeks post Microfracture Surgery. Time flies. So I am at 11 weeks and things are ok. My leg is not getting strong as fast as I would hope but slow progress is better than no progress. Today was an easy day to let the leg and knee rest as it was hurting a bit more than normal.
 

K+78 Days

I was not feeling 100% and I really felt like I needed some extra sleep so I slept in today and skipped the workout. It actually may have turned out to be a good thing as throughout the day my knee felt better than it has in a long time. Giving it a break couple days may have been what it needed.

Back to the bike and elliptical tomorrow.

K+79 Days

Easy day, needed the rest. 

K+80 Days

 Yet another day of rest but the knee is really feeling good.
 

K+81 Days Post Microfracture Surgery!

Back to the routine.

5:00am up and off to the BYU gym

15 minutes on the sitting bike. Covered 4.5 miles in 15 minutes with the last 5K in 10:08. This was good and got my heart rate up to 150+.

15 sets of leg strength exercises on weight machines with 30 reps per.

15 minute on the elliptical. Covered 1.5 miles with last mile under 10 minutes. For those that have not done an elliptical this is not an easy thing doing a 9:28 mile on a elliptical. I would equate it to running a mile in about 5:15 for me effort wise.

So another workout in the bag. Hopefully one day closer to a real run again.

K+82 Days

Not much today as work seemed to get in the way today.