9/9/22 First Visit To Physical Therapist?

     Nothing is easy in life, and this was no exception.  After about 6 weeks, and an MRI that shows nothing is physically wrong with our boy's knee, he is still feeling pain, so a physical therapist was suggested.  We went to about five different locations before I felt comfortable enough to say yes and give our information out.

    There are actually several PT offices all around us, on William Cannon, there seems to be one in every little shopping center.  We went to one that was an old Pizza Hut, but it had a sad feeling like the building felt it should still have an oven making pizzas.  We then went to one that was newer but the clientele that was there, and maybe it is because it was 2:00 in the afternoon, did not impress me.  There was an old lady right as we came in talking in that loud almost obnoxious smoker's throaty sound that drowns out any decent thought or conversation and then looking around and seeing mostly elderly gave me the feeling that a thick jock would not be something they are used to working with.  Some of the other places just said they were booked, or we would have to call a different office to book appointments.  Finally, I thought of a coworker who is also going to see a PT, and she had said it is nothing but young people, like she was the only old person there.  We went over there after getting the information and they also had super early hours to boot.  This means we can get him seen and out the door and he doesn't even miss school time.  

    We got there about 7:15am and walked in the door, but there was no person in the front.  We sat for a minute or two, I was thinking the receptionist was maybe in the bathroom, but after a while, we heard noises coming from the back.  I peeked in and there was a guy there, he was friendly enough and was awaiting us.  Mijo took his dress clothes off and got to work.  I thought it was going to be some stretches and stuff we could do at home, but things are way too high tech nowadays.  He mentioned using the BFR method.  BFR stands for Blood Flow Restriction, and then proceeded to give our boy some straps that inflate around his thighs using a computer device.  This is to starve the area of oxygen while making the muscles do some exercise.  He never even got off the massage table.  He just did some hip thrusts up in the air, about five sets of 15 or so.  It didn't look like much, but big boy was sweating it out towards the end.

    The PT guy also tested the strength of both legs with another device he strapped to a stool and with one leg at a time, he would kick out and that tool told him how much force he is generating.  His left leg (injured one) has about half the force of the normal right one.  These are things they can measure and improve over time.  I want Mijo on the field but even more important, I don't want this injury to be nagging him all year, so this is good.