I had my first physio appointment today. I was referred to RebalanceMD, a local, weird collaborative operation that combines surgeons, physiotherapists and other medical professionals into one neat little package. I don’t totally understand how it works, but it feels like the goal is to provide a one-door solution to clients who go through surgery and require follow-up rehabilitation.

Anyway, I looked them up online and sought one therapist in particular, who looked ideally suited to my situation: Chris May. I was lucky to get in this fast.

Chris is really great, exuding knowledge and confidence. He set a good tone right off the bat – he was very happy to see the quality of the scar and the fact that my leg was straight! We talked for a bit about my lifestyle and how I’ve been recovering to date.

Among the most memorable of his comments were the need to ‘ditch the crutch’ sooner than later, focus on increased weight bearing and symmetry in my stance, the relative uselessness of my brace (besides in case of a fall, trip, etc. and ‘signaling to others to give me space’) and how to recover my gait. He also helpfully remarked that my repair is quite resilient now – beyond a severe/traumatic incident like a fall or trip, it would be hard to re-injure the tendon at this point. What a relief to hear that.

I got some ultrasound and a weird vacuum-pump nerve stimulating thing, and several easy exercises to work on flexion and quad activation. He recommended sitting at a desk to work, where I can bend my knee and release. He wants me walking around more, albeit slowly. And heel slides in bed – gradually bringing my foot closer to my body and then releasing straight. 8-10 micro-workouts like this each day.

None of it hurt, nor did it hurt later. Just stiffness. He encouraged me to keep icing it – my knee still gets hot after some of these movements, a sign of inflammation.

It’s all very encouraging. I am trying not to jynx it, but I’m surprised how straightforward this whole process has been so far. Not enjoyable or anything (man there have been some days), but I expected worse and I’m farther along than I thought I would be. Maybe I’ve already blocked out the worst of it. Maybe I’m just living in the moment. The last week in particular has seen leaps and bounds of improvement.