18 March 2005
I didn't want to get out of bed this morning but I knew I had to. I had an appointment with Gavin this morning so I had to make sure I have enough time to do my exercise bike, have breakfast and then have a shower and get ready. I think I was half asleep on the bike and only managed to burn 100 KJ of calories in the 20 minutes. I have taken up Tim's suggestions by recording the calories because he said that's one way of measuring how hard I've been working. While I was on the bike, I was trying to take a few deep breadths and hoping the oxygen will wake me up a bit.
It was a bit dramatic on the way to Epworth. The taxi driver was very impatient and got into an argument with a cyclist. The cyclist was right in the middle of the road and the taxi driver tooted her. She was quite upset and caught up with us and screamed at him. She insisted that she was in her bike lane. I think she was wrong because unlike on Royal Parade, there was no bike lane marked in the middle of the road and she was clearly in between two lanes. She was getting quite abusive and swore at the taxi driver. The taxi driver also used some colourful language. I didn't say anything. I just want to get to my appointment on time. Come to think of it, even when I get my driver's license back, I'll still probably catch the taxi to my appointments.
When I walked into the physio gym, Gavin was on the phone so I sat down on a bench and waited. It was still early anyway. When Gavin finished, he greeted me and asked me how was I feeling after my session on Wednesday. I told him I was fine but very tired. He asked me to start my walking practice as warm up. After doing a few laps, he asked me to head for the stairs. This time, he wanted me to go up without holding on anything. I couldn't see but I think he was standing behind me to make sure I don't fall backwards down the stairs. I made it to the top fine. This is probably I went up the stairs without any support. Going down stairs was a bit more tricky. I asked Gavin if I can have a little support for balance because I felt I need to hold on to something. He thought for a minute and put on right hand on my left hand and said if I really need to hold something, I can hold my own hand. I found it harder to keep my balance that way so in the end, I decided to try going down stairs. It's very scary when I looked down the stairs but I found if I just look at the step I'm about to step on, it's not so bad. I got down the stairs ok. Gavin was very pleased to see that and asked me to go up and then down again. When I got to the last step, he introduced me to Rochelle. Apparently he's asked her to look at my gym program and will arrange a me to have a session with her. He asked me if there is a gym near my house. I told him that the Melbourne uni gym is probably the closest but by the time I walk there I'll probably be too tired to do anything. He thinks I should be ok to walk there.
He asked me to do another few laps of walking practice and then it's the mini trampoline again. He thinks I'm doing better on the trampoline now and asked me to lift up my right leg higher which makes my left leg works harder. I asked him if the purpose of this exercise is to get me to start running. He said yes. I told him I was not a runner before the operation anyway and the only times I ran were running to catch the trams. He said he doesn't care whether I ran before or not but the point is that running is high mobility and it can make me walk faster so I can cross the road before the lights change. That makes sense.
After about 10 minutes, he thought that was enough on the trampoline and he got me to get on the leg press and do the running lying down like last time. It's getting a bit easier now and I didn't need as much support from him as last time. He thought it's much better than last week.
I must say this really tires me out and I couldn't do it for too long. Finally, he thought that was enough for me and told me to get up and go to the rails in the physio gym. As I got up and was walking towards the gym, I told him that I've been practising walking but exaggerate on shifting my weight to the left so I can try to take a bigger right step. He pointed out that in normal walking, we don't shift weight first and then step, we normally shift weight and step put at the same time. This is exactly what Tim was telling me the other day but I didn't take much notice of what he said. Maybe he is right, a good ballroom dance teach can probably teach me walking better. At first, I thought Gavin was going to get me to do squats like last time but he had something else in mind. He wanted me to stand on my toes and I was allowed to touch the rails (with my finger tips) for balance. After this, he asked me to take off the ankle brace but with shoe on and walk around. I told him that I couldn't really walk like this because the ankle inversion. I also asked him about the Botox in tibalis posterior. Originally, this was suggested by the rehabilitation specialist, John Olver, to stop the ankle inversion. He said the inversion is probably due to the tightness in the tibalis posterior muscle and a Botox can probably stop that. Gavin said he doesn't think the inversion is caused by tib post but tibialis anterior. Tib ante is the muscle that does inversion and also dorsiflexion so if I have a Botox in tib ante, I won't be able to have any foot clearance when I walk. He thinks a Botox in tib post won't do anything.
I also asked him the question Neil had and was trying to get me to ask Gavin - what exercises can I do to strenghen the peronous muscle - the muscle that does the eversion. He couldn't really tell me and told me it's easier said than done. I guess that means there isn't really any. I asked him whether I should use the electrical stimulation machine on the muscle to strengthen it. He told me he didn't think there is any use of that. He said the stims machine contracts the muscle but it does not reconnect the movement with the brain so I won't be able to control the movement myself. I told him that I used the stims machine on my shoulder before and I found that useful. He said my arm has recovered well - I think he thought a lot of my arm recovery was organic - ie. through the brain recovery. I felt like telling him that but my friends and I worked very hard at it. He told me that I could try because it won't do any harm but he just doesn't think it would work. I think I'll try that anyway.
My next appointment with him will be after the Easter break. He said I'll be having physios with my arm next week at the course anyway so he won't need to see me. I hope the course is useful.
It was a bit dramatic on the way to Epworth. The taxi driver was very impatient and got into an argument with a cyclist. The cyclist was right in the middle of the road and the taxi driver tooted her. She was quite upset and caught up with us and screamed at him. She insisted that she was in her bike lane. I think she was wrong because unlike on Royal Parade, there was no bike lane marked in the middle of the road and she was clearly in between two lanes. She was getting quite abusive and swore at the taxi driver. The taxi driver also used some colourful language. I didn't say anything. I just want to get to my appointment on time. Come to think of it, even when I get my driver's license back, I'll still probably catch the taxi to my appointments.
When I walked into the physio gym, Gavin was on the phone so I sat down on a bench and waited. It was still early anyway. When Gavin finished, he greeted me and asked me how was I feeling after my session on Wednesday. I told him I was fine but very tired. He asked me to start my walking practice as warm up. After doing a few laps, he asked me to head for the stairs. This time, he wanted me to go up without holding on anything. I couldn't see but I think he was standing behind me to make sure I don't fall backwards down the stairs. I made it to the top fine. This is probably I went up the stairs without any support. Going down stairs was a bit more tricky. I asked Gavin if I can have a little support for balance because I felt I need to hold on to something. He thought for a minute and put on right hand on my left hand and said if I really need to hold something, I can hold my own hand. I found it harder to keep my balance that way so in the end, I decided to try going down stairs. It's very scary when I looked down the stairs but I found if I just look at the step I'm about to step on, it's not so bad. I got down the stairs ok. Gavin was very pleased to see that and asked me to go up and then down again. When I got to the last step, he introduced me to Rochelle. Apparently he's asked her to look at my gym program and will arrange a me to have a session with her. He asked me if there is a gym near my house. I told him that the Melbourne uni gym is probably the closest but by the time I walk there I'll probably be too tired to do anything. He thinks I should be ok to walk there.
He asked me to do another few laps of walking practice and then it's the mini trampoline again. He thinks I'm doing better on the trampoline now and asked me to lift up my right leg higher which makes my left leg works harder. I asked him if the purpose of this exercise is to get me to start running. He said yes. I told him I was not a runner before the operation anyway and the only times I ran were running to catch the trams. He said he doesn't care whether I ran before or not but the point is that running is high mobility and it can make me walk faster so I can cross the road before the lights change. That makes sense.
After about 10 minutes, he thought that was enough on the trampoline and he got me to get on the leg press and do the running lying down like last time. It's getting a bit easier now and I didn't need as much support from him as last time. He thought it's much better than last week.
I must say this really tires me out and I couldn't do it for too long. Finally, he thought that was enough for me and told me to get up and go to the rails in the physio gym. As I got up and was walking towards the gym, I told him that I've been practising walking but exaggerate on shifting my weight to the left so I can try to take a bigger right step. He pointed out that in normal walking, we don't shift weight first and then step, we normally shift weight and step put at the same time. This is exactly what Tim was telling me the other day but I didn't take much notice of what he said. Maybe he is right, a good ballroom dance teach can probably teach me walking better. At first, I thought Gavin was going to get me to do squats like last time but he had something else in mind. He wanted me to stand on my toes and I was allowed to touch the rails (with my finger tips) for balance. After this, he asked me to take off the ankle brace but with shoe on and walk around. I told him that I couldn't really walk like this because the ankle inversion. I also asked him about the Botox in tibalis posterior. Originally, this was suggested by the rehabilitation specialist, John Olver, to stop the ankle inversion. He said the inversion is probably due to the tightness in the tibalis posterior muscle and a Botox can probably stop that. Gavin said he doesn't think the inversion is caused by tib post but tibialis anterior. Tib ante is the muscle that does inversion and also dorsiflexion so if I have a Botox in tib ante, I won't be able to have any foot clearance when I walk. He thinks a Botox in tib post won't do anything.
I also asked him the question Neil had and was trying to get me to ask Gavin - what exercises can I do to strenghen the peronous muscle - the muscle that does the eversion. He couldn't really tell me and told me it's easier said than done. I guess that means there isn't really any. I asked him whether I should use the electrical stimulation machine on the muscle to strengthen it. He told me he didn't think there is any use of that. He said the stims machine contracts the muscle but it does not reconnect the movement with the brain so I won't be able to control the movement myself. I told him that I used the stims machine on my shoulder before and I found that useful. He said my arm has recovered well - I think he thought a lot of my arm recovery was organic - ie. through the brain recovery. I felt like telling him that but my friends and I worked very hard at it. He told me that I could try because it won't do any harm but he just doesn't think it would work. I think I'll try that anyway.
My next appointment with him will be after the Easter break. He said I'll be having physios with my arm next week at the course anyway so he won't need to see me. I hope the course is useful.
posted by Teresa Liu at 5:38 PM
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