Therapy

So, after the MRI, I reported to an orthopedic doctor.  He said he believed it would be best for me to go to physical therapy for a bit to speed up the healing in my calf.  Evidently the tear in my muscle is not severe, but weeks of rest at the minimum is the only way to reverse the damage I have done now.  And rest plus therapy means I am back on the treadmill that much faster.

And as I honestly miss the luxury of running out my stress, I am willing to put in the work.  I reported to therapy last week early on a Wednesday morning.  My therapist is little, blonde, adorable.  Conveniently she forgets to count my reps on exercises, so often if I am not counting for us, I do more than she prescribes.  Though something tells me that she would not consider that a bad thing. 

I am building the heck out of my right leg, so at times I will do the exercises on the left as well.  I certainly don't want to have my right leg to look and feel awesome and be lopsided on the left because I was too lazy to work it, too. 

In addition to the deep stretches and heel raises, I also get an ultrasound treatment and an ice massage.  The ultrasound is no biggie.  The jelly is a little cold, but it actually feels pretty good.  The ice massage...that's different.  They have frozen water in a styrofoam cup and the therapist holds the cup so that the ice is on the affected body part and rubs the ice all over.  You go through several stages...severe cold (and I mean COLD, people), burning from the cold and numbness.  It takes about 6 minutes to get to numb.  And it's a long six minutes, I can tell you.  But you feel as though you have accomplished something by hanging in for that long. 

Then comes the kineseotape.  It doesn't hurt or anything, but I find that my leg doesn't dig stuff being stuck to it.  The tape keeps coming up long before it's supposed to.  Sigh. 

So, I have at least another week and a half before I bid adieu to my new friends at therapy.  If it weren't for the traffic and construction, I believe I would want to continue to go to therapy long after my prescribed sessions are over.  But as it adds to my already full plate pretty significantly, I am eager for the day I am back on the treadmill in the mornings instead of preparing myself for my ice massage.