Physiotherapy 5th session

Appointments one week apart now for physiotherapy. Will be happy to move to two weeks and then one month apart. That gives me time to work on the exercises and increase my number of steps per day. The FitBit is working really well that I started using at the beginning of the month. I was actually doing almost 10,000 steps per day but I am gradually increasing that daily and I am at 13000 yesterday. I was doing 18000 to 22000 steps per day when I last used my FitBit December 2018. I stopped using it because I felt like it was running my life. However, in retrospect I was still in charge but I likely needed a FitBit that did more to make it useful to me which is what I now have.

I started doing the Bridge instead of one of the exercises the physiotherapy gave me and he felt that it was a good move. I refined one of the knee exercises at the appointment yesterday and I feel that it is much more beneficial; probably I couldn't have done it quite so readily a couple of weeks ago and the in-between stage got my knee ready for harder stuff. I can walk 2 km without a walker now and the knee just gets a tired soreness as opposed to actually hurting and in pain. I expect that will continue for a while as I rebuild the muscle system in the knee area and around it.

In the meantime I have added back all of the exercises I was doing in my Calisthenics routine and happy for that; I was missing them. I am not yet running but I am up to 25 minutes at Tension 1 on the bicycle. Perhaps I will move to Tension 2 next appointment. I was only ever at Tension 3 but perhaps this is the way to move forward towards running. Once I am at Tension 3 then I could perhaps run again.

I can see myself continuing with appointments monthly just to enhance my exercise routines with new ideas and to check on the progress of my arthritis which is mild yet but given my parents both having arthritis likely to progress as it did with them although they managed it very well. My mother did Yoga until she passed away at 86 (she had a fall or she might be with us yet although at 104 she might not be doing Yoga - hard to say). My father was 95 but confined to a wheel chair the last couple of years due to a stroke. But before that he walked for miles most days. I did not live near him so not really sure why he had a stroke as his diet was excellent; just the luck of the draw I guess.

I can say that my second time in physiotherapy has been most successful. Just over a month ago I couldn't stand on my leg without total assistance and now I am out and about walking. My first time in physiotherapy was fifteen years ago for a torn shoulder rotator cuff. I did those exercises for five years and I would never know that I did that damage as it completely healed.