Yesterday’s physical therapy session was productive, once I got past the annoyances of “no, really, I know what I’m doing with my existing balance exercises, stop trying to argue me out of them,” which came up because I mentioned that trying to get onto a foam roller barefoot was painful for my ankle. I think she doesn't think anyone should stand on one of those, ever, because they might fall off, rather than specifically that I shouldn't.
After that conversation, I did warmup, a bit of stretching, and some of the shoulder strengthening exercises that I've been doing as part of PT for a while, and then the therapist showed me some new balance things, some of which were easier for me than she’d expected. As![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
adrian_turtle said, most of the therapist's patients don’t have the background of balance work (with Emilie) that I do, and for example haven’t been standing on one foot while waiting for the bus for years*. (The therapist wants me to do balance stuff because it will help my left ankle heal; I feel as though I can use more balance exercises, especially since I'm no longer doing large amounts of my regular exercise while standing on a balance board, as I did when I had a gym membership, back in New York.) The one exercise that felt weird was walking heel-and-toe with low hurdles to step over. Doing that without the hurdles didn't seem weird, although I had to argue with her to do it without a belt she could hold to support me in case I fell. (We compromised on me holding walking poles, which I did use to catch myself a few times.)
The PT session was draining enough that I decided to stop for hot chocolate on the way home; Starbucks makes a better hot chocolate than I do, and they have whipped cream available. Making it in the microwave works, but this was easier, and it turned out, as I had thought, that I had a free drink credit, so it wasn’t even “do I want to spend the $3 to have better hot chocolate, with less work, than I could manage for maybe 75 cents worth of ingredients at home?"
[The gym icon I'm using for this post was taken with me standing on the foam roller.)
*I do that less here than in New York or Boston; too many of the sidewalks in the Seattle area are steep and/or tilted in weird ways.
After that conversation, I did warmup, a bit of stretching, and some of the shoulder strengthening exercises that I've been doing as part of PT for a while, and then the therapist showed me some new balance things, some of which were easier for me than she’d expected. As
adrian_turtle said, most of the therapist's patients don’t have the background of balance work (with Emilie) that I do, and for example haven’t been standing on one foot while waiting for the bus for years*. (The therapist wants me to do balance stuff because it will help my left ankle heal; I feel as though I can use more balance exercises, especially since I'm no longer doing large amounts of my regular exercise while standing on a balance board, as I did when I had a gym membership, back in New York.) The one exercise that felt weird was walking heel-and-toe with low hurdles to step over. Doing that without the hurdles didn't seem weird, although I had to argue with her to do it without a belt she could hold to support me in case I fell. (We compromised on me holding walking poles, which I did use to catch myself a few times.)The PT session was draining enough that I decided to stop for hot chocolate on the way home; Starbucks makes a better hot chocolate than I do, and they have whipped cream available. Making it in the microwave works, but this was easier, and it turned out, as I had thought, that I had a free drink credit, so it wasn’t even “do I want to spend the $3 to have better hot chocolate, with less work, than I could manage for maybe 75 cents worth of ingredients at home?"
[The gym icon I'm using for this post was taken with me standing on the foam roller.)
*I do that less here than in New York or Boston; too many of the sidewalks in the Seattle area are steep and/or tilted in weird ways.
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