As I have not published for awhile, many people have written to me asking what sort of exercises do you do after 18 months of rehab. Obviously they are very different from what I did at the beginning and have been in constant evolution driven by three factors:
1) Increasing strength in the injured leg
2) Increasing confidence in attempting new and more difficult exercises
3) Return of balance when using the injured leg
4) Change in exercise methodology after changing trainers. For approximately the last six months I have had a male trainer, Paul Birtles, who took over after Belinda went to another job. While Paul continued the recovery work on my leg, he also identified other problem areas which needed attention viz:
- Chronically tight hamstrings and hip flexor tendons which I have always had but possibly exacerbated by the injury
- Stiffness and lack of flexibility in the lower back
- Constant stiffness and soreness in the shoulders and scapular caused by strenuous repetitive exercise i.e swimming.
He attempted to address all these issues with appropriate exercises while maintaining focus on my injured leg aimed at preparing me for skiing in early 2017. In the following post are shown some of the exercises at the 18 month mark.
In the second year of rehabilitation I spent 20 to 30 minutes on an exercise bike before each gym session. This was necessary to warm up muscles for the stretching exercises and more advanced gym program undertaken in the second year. Due to an old injury in my lumbar spine I found it difficult to achieve correct posture on the bike.
Paul showing how it’s done, with correct seat height, seat position and posture
Warming up on an exercise bike is the best way to avoid injury during a gym based rehab session, especially in the second year as the exercises get progressively more difficult
