My recent bout of knee pain - PT's are human too!

Let me start by saying that I am NOT a miracle worker. I am also not claiming to be 100% better. Let me tell you what happened. 

On Thursday, I was on my knees for about 60 minutes, and I couldn't avoid it. I even had my knees on a soft surface. 

Friday, when I was in bed, I realized it hurt to bend and straighten my knee in bed. I got out of bed, limped around, and realized I couldn't even activate my knee muscles (quads) without pain. I had to go to work, where I would be on my feet all day, and was not excited about it. When I got to work, I asked my aide if he would be able to help me with demonstrating exercises to patients so that I wouldn't hurt myself further. He was more than happy to help, so THANK YOU to him. I limped around the clinic and tried to stay off of it the best I could. Between every patient that I could manage, I grabbed some ice and elevated and iced my knee. I managed to fit that in twice during my work day. Since I am a Physical Therapist, I knew exactly what to do for my knee. I started with trying to move my knee cap (patella) a little and making sure it still moved. Then I tried activating certain muscles and so forth. I did everything I could think of. I also used some kinesiotape.  When I got home, I iced. The method I used for taping my knee pain can be found here. 

Saturday, my knee was a tiny bit better. I was still limping around, not doing much. I continued to do the things I mentioned above. This was the same for Sunday. Each day a tiny bit better than the day before.

Monday, my fiancé and I had a friend visiting. I was still limping around, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was on Friday. I continued to do the same exercises mentioned above. 

Tuesday, again, slightly better, able to walk with less of limp, and kept icing and strengthening certain muscles. By today, I was finally able to straighten my knee all the way. YAY!!

Wednesday, like Tuesday, except now I could ALSO go UP AND DOWN stairs almost like a normal person. This was awesome. I am still not 100%, but pretty darn close. Watch the video for my explanation of what my knee felt like and to see how I changed from Friday to Wednesday.