Can lawn chairs do jumping jacks?

I know, I know…it’s been two months since I’ve posted an update. I could blather on about how busy things have been with my sister’s wedding, the ever-frantic holiday season, and a Texas-sized BCS mess, but I will save those tales for another time. I have not shared any therapy stories for too long, and the last sixty days have been filled with some good ones!

Between a month of ‘Advanced Physical Therapy’, a steady dose of speech therapy, a follow-up MRI and an appointment with my Neurologist, progress was the name of the game during the end of the year.  A closer look at all of the above follows….

Medically Speaking: I had an 18 month post-op MRI in November. I now know several of the technicians at Austin Radiological Association. I have also noticed that where the banging magnets taking x-ray pictures of my noggin’ used to unnerve me, it is now somewhat relaxingly familiar. I am finally at the point where ‘going for a ride in the MRI tube’ is normal. Sheesh.

After getting the MRI done, I had an appointment with my Neurologist to review the scans and my progress. The doctor was totally satisfied with the MRI and, upon neurological examination, felt like I had made significant recovery since my last visit! Specifically, he cited the increased tone in my facial muscles, fewer requests for me to repeat verbal information (referencing my intelligibility) and an improvement in my gait. With the noted improvements, a short conversation about my recovery goals and an impromptu hallway review of my balance and coordination, my doctor wrote a prescription for ‘Advanced Physical Therapy’.

Physically Speaking: Compounding the fact that I had no idea what to expect during my first ‘Advanced Physical Therapy’ appointment, my neurologist recommended I go to a new therapy hospital for their cutting-edge work in my areas of need. With a lot more questions than answers, I arrived at the facility in early December. I had no sooner communicated to them a desire to be able to jog and play tennis again, when I was immediately put on a treadmill…faster……faster…….”I don’t care if you have to support your body weight with your arms, I want you to jog!”

I looked down and the readout told me the belt was going 4.8 mph! Two years ago that would have been a slow jog, one year ago it would have thrown me backwards off the treadmill!

 Without getting too involved into a review of human anatomy and biology, understand that there are two main categories of muscle and movement – slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch fibers are large muscles designed to function for extended periods of time and control gross movements, endurance and holding posture. Fast twitch fibers fire more rapidly and are responsible for speed, power and strength.

The second key piece of knowledge in this discussion is that my slow twitch fibers appeared to reconnect before their counterparts. Better said, I can walk or climb the steps at a slow rate, but my body is still remembering how to speed those processes up by using fast twitch fibers. The end result? I know how to run, but functionally, my body is not yet ready to perform such a task. (If you are confused, don’t worry…I am too!)

According to my new physical therapy team, one of the best ways to recondition my body to these types of activities is to force it to perform the tasks, but in fragmented pieces. The next step after doing it is to do it again, but faster.

In total, I went through six therapy sessions in the month of December. In therapy, they had me walking, jogging, doing grapevines, skipping, side shuffling – anything and everything you can imagine to begin the process of reminding my brain how to speed up.  On New Year’s Eve, I was sent home from therapy with a regimented 30-day program of exercises designed to continue building on the work performed at the hospital.

I am now in Week 2 of the home program. It is humbling work to say the least. I have found that of all the activities given in the regimen that skipping and doing jumping jacks are the most difficult. If possible, I will try to upload some video of me trying to skip. It defies written explanation. As far as doing jumping jacks – I am fairly certain a retro lawn chair folds up more quickly and easily than I do!

This gem folds up easier than I do!

Nevertheless, I toil away and note each minor improvement. My jumping jack upswing and downswing are now almost one continuous movement!

I will check back soon with updates on speech therapy and an answer to the question I get asked most often…