An eventful physio session

The first session of physio in the New Year and I confessed pretty much straight away that fell over on Boxing Day. As I had said it won’t be the last and they know that too but they did ask me the circumstances surrounding it. As always I was keen and eager to get on so after struggling on with the leg it was up and down the parallel bars a few times to warm up. There were about six or seven of us there today and one of the ladies I hadn’t met before but I knew our paths would cross. She has been a below knee amputee for seven years and became an above knee not long after me. She is friends with one of the Sisters on the ward I was on and friends with another patient I met when I had my amputation. It was nice to finally meet her, she is really nice and we had a nice chat when we had the time. Back to the exercises and after the bars I was told to come out from I between them but have the bar to my side. One of the physios put a platform on the floor and I had to put my right foot on the step, then put it back on the floor and repeat multiple times. To start off with I had my hand on the bar but after a while I was doing it unaided. Most of the exercises I was doing today involved more weight and balancing through the prosthetic leg. Although it is still a little sore underneath with the leg on it is miles better than it was and I am sure the skin will toughen a little with more practice. The next exercise involved me putting my weight through the prosthetic leg with fingertips on the bar, on the floor was a hard tennis size ball in a little rubber ring. I had to put my right foot on the ball and roll it backwards and forwards ten times and then side to side ten times. Defiantly not as easy as the last exercises and took quite a while master. After that I had to face the bar with my feet together then move my right leg out sideways and then bring my left foot back next to the right foot so I was side stepping along the bar length. I went up and down the bar length a few times and found that after only a short while I was not even using the bar. Following on from that I had the bar on my right side and I had to step back with my right leg and then step back with the left level to the right, right leg back, left back level and so on up and down the length of the bars. After a few lengths I did manage to do it not touching the bar but my hand just hovered over it. To finish the session I got my sticks (which are now approved with the new bigger ferrules on) and walked a little way then up as step and down a shallow ramp, turned around and went up the ramp, down the step and walked to the end of the bars and repeated numerous times. I was quite chuffed actually as I didn’t think I would have been let loose on the step and ramp quite so soon, for me that is good progress. I had also done two sitting exercises but one of them I am already doing at home so was easy enough. The second involved tying my knees together with an exercise band with my feet wide apart the trying to pull my knees apart so they were over my feet. The right leg was fine but trust me the left was a massive struggle, I felt the stump move inside the socket but it didn’t seem to move the prosthesis at all, the physio said she could see it move a bit and seemed happy enough. If the physios are happy then I am happy.