Village Centre
Big Sky
Montana
USA

Wednesday, February 18, 2016

Belinda,
           Just got through day 2 so thought I should give you an update. Day 1 was interesting as it was like an exam day. I had a very capable female, American guide, Laura Herr, who was just back on the slopes after a broken fibula and ankle so she knew just what I was going through. She took it very slowly and we stuck to moderate runs. As you can imagine on the first run I was waiting for the pain to arrive but it didn’t. Thankfully. After about an hour the patella tendon just below my kneecap started to ache. Remember you said it would probably hurt.  It wasn’t that painful or discomforting I just knew it was there. During the second hour the two tendons/muscles just above my knee started to ache but not for long.

 I think these are the quadriceps muscles shown in the picture above. The quadriceps tendon in the picture wasn’t hurting. The patella tendon was hurting just where the arrow is. Into the third hour neither was hurting much. Significantly nothing was hurting behind the kneecap or at the site of the plate. I ended up skiing for five hours. No residual pain at the end. Steady pace on medium slopes. No rampaging. Most significantly my quads,which are normally stuffed for the first couple of days, weren’t tired. At all. That’s a first for me. I put it down to all the exercises you gave me.

Today was much the same. All the muscles around the knee, but not the knee itself, ached for about the first five minutes but then it went away. I skiied for four hours today without any pain at all.

Late this afternoon, I spied from the chair, a beautiful looking run called The Bowl, a single black diamond coming off Lone Mountain, which is the dominant peak here. I’d only been on the greens and blues but thought, “Bugger it! Why not!” Went at a steady pace but didn’t stop top to bottom. Because it was steeper I had to lean out further and push harder on the broken leg. No reaction. I couldn’t feel the plate at all. I was very pleased.

Anyway, much is now clear about the rehab you gave me. The flex and range of movement part I always got, ditto the strength part with the leg press and extension and flexion machines. What often puzzled me were all those exercises you said were to fire up the muscles around the knee – One legged balance on the Bosu ball, one legged dead lifts and that exercise standing sideways on one leg and holding the resistance against a Kinesis machine.  I get all that now. Rehab from a broken leg isn’t about fixing bones. That’s probably over in the first eight weeks. It’s mending the buggered tendons and ligaments and getting them all working together that takes the time.

Needless to say I’m enormously grateful for your efforts in my rehab. It’s one year and one week since surgery and I’m skiing comfortably down a black run. That’s all down to you.  My daughters are also very appreciative of your skill and professionalism. If you want something to add to your rehab program, you might consider that routine I worked out on the bike – doing five sprints to 100 rpm at levels increasing progressively from nine to thirteen on a recumbent bike, all within a half hour. It’s really boring but it may also have helped with recovery.

Anyway, so far so good. I’m telling everyone here about my miracle personal trainer back in Australia. Will be fully rampaging on the double blacks by the end of the week. Look out. Hope married life is going well – the first month is the hardest.

Regards

Kieran Kelly