It was time once again for a friendly chat with my surgeon. After 6 months, I had gathered quite a lot of data and had plenty of questions for him.
My main concern was the "grinding" sound coming from my kneecap area during full flexion. He asked if it hurt and I said no. He said it was most likely scar tissue and that time will slowly fade the sound away. Good to hear.
We talked a little more about my activity levels, what I've been doing and how it's been feeling. I was reluctant talk about physical therapy since I quit a couple months ago, but mentioned it to him briefly. He brought up some good points and shed some light on overall goals of a good physical therapy recovery. First, I've been doing it all wrong with my, "push hard, build muscle" mantra. All those heavy workouts that left my knee in pain weren't doing me any good. The key, he said, is to mobilize the muscle and minimize the joint pain...basically, "no pain, plenty gain".
Otherwise the implant looked great on x-ray (well, it was still in there at least) and my scar has healed beautifully. I'm going to return to my physical therapy regime with a new, more conservative approach. My hope is that I can cancel my next visit in 6 months since I'll be too busy being active.
My main concern was the "grinding" sound coming from my kneecap area during full flexion. He asked if it hurt and I said no. He said it was most likely scar tissue and that time will slowly fade the sound away. Good to hear.
We talked a little more about my activity levels, what I've been doing and how it's been feeling. I was reluctant talk about physical therapy since I quit a couple months ago, but mentioned it to him briefly. He brought up some good points and shed some light on overall goals of a good physical therapy recovery. First, I've been doing it all wrong with my, "push hard, build muscle" mantra. All those heavy workouts that left my knee in pain weren't doing me any good. The key, he said, is to mobilize the muscle and minimize the joint pain...basically, "no pain, plenty gain".
Otherwise the implant looked great on x-ray (well, it was still in there at least) and my scar has healed beautifully. I'm going to return to my physical therapy regime with a new, more conservative approach. My hope is that I can cancel my next visit in 6 months since I'll be too busy being active.