PT Update 3 - POD 70

PT on Wednesday went well. Although I've seen and felt progress the whole time I've been going for therapy, this week is the first week I've really begun to feel like myself again. I was able to put some boxes up on a shelf at work and reached over my head like I haven't ben able to do in years. Since I'm also in the process of packing to move I'm doing a lot of physical activity that I haven't done to this point. I'm trying to be careful with what I'm lifting since there is no getting away from this work needing to be done.

David added two more exercises to my routine on Wednesday. The first was the plank. I had to 3 planks for at least 30 seconds each. I think I held them for a little longer since I couldn't see the clock while I was doing them.  This is a great exercise for anyone who is looking to strengthen their core and I felt it in my abs for a few days after PT.

 Plank

The second addition was a stabilization exercise. David had me get on my hands and knees on the table, lock my elbows and he tried to push me from different points on the sides of my body and I had to resist him so I did not move. He then increased both speed and pressure as we progressed so that I had to react more quickly. I have to say, it was kind of fun.

Since the PT routine is ever expanding I'm going to recap the routine in a table below which is current as of POD 70.  Also, a note on therabands: I keep talking about the different colors and ,for those of you who haven't been lucky enough to use them, I wanted to mention that the different colors equate to different levels of resistance. The progression from, least to greatest, is tan, yellow, red, green, blue, black, silver and gold.  All of the exercises listed below are for three sets of 10 unless otherwise noted.

Exercise	Weight/Color/Time
Heat	15 minutes
Hand Bike	Level 4, 4 minutes each direction
Pulleys	30 reps
Codman's Exercises	30 reps each direction
Front Raise	1 lb
Shrugs	4 lb
Biceps Curls	4 lb
Scapular Retraction	Green
Internal Rotation	Green
Rear Extension	Green
Adduction	Red
Wall Climb	n/a
Ball Stabilization	30 seconds, 5 times
Front Flexion, Wand	n/a
External Rotation, Wand	n/a
Plank	3 x 30 seconds
Kneeling Stabilization	n/a
Manipulation/Massage	n/a
Ice/Electric Stim	15 Minutes