We hit 90 degrees!

    Today Amaya hit a HUGE milestone! Amaya was able to bend her knee to 90 degrees! Just three weeks after her surgery! That's great, for many reasons. Since we haven't had pt in four days it shows we kept the range she had gained last week (0-84), it also shows we gained some on our own (the first measurement today was at 88 degrees!), and its a great sign showing that she's regaining her range of motion within that "magic window" so that there shouldn't be any long term damage to her knee. 

    All her hard work is paying off, she's been so good about doing her pt homework twice a day and pushing and working hard at sessions with the therapist. Through pain and hard work she got from 88 to 90 degrees. Those two degrees didn't come easily, but with pain and work she earned them. At 90 degrees Amaya said her leg "felt so shaky" so the therapist had her hold it there for a few seconds to let it stretch a bit and let gravity help gently pull it down. The therapist encouraged Amaya and reminded her that for now its a balance between either tight in bending or tight in straightening the knee but that, "you'll get it back." Her therapist had the goal of hitting 90 degrees today and 100 by the end of the week. We have three pt sessions this week so its definitely a possibility. Wish us luck and let’s home Amaya’s pain stays manageable  

    The therapist gave Amaya one final reminder, healing is exhausting so she should save her energy and take care of herself. It was a good reminder for this independent teenager who's determined to go to school and work.

Since Amaya was having pain on the back of her knee and in her calf the therapist started Amaya on her tummy to work on straightening her leg (and working on extension; the straightening of her leg). 

Here you can see how well her knee is bending. This was just before hitting 90. 

Straightening and then bending the knee.

Amaya holding a knee bend. It looks so easy here in the picture but its much more painful in reality.

Here's a look at the external magnet we use to "talk"to her internal magnet to lengthen. I think we'll make a separate post with videos to show how it looks, sounds and how long it takes. It's pretty fascinating.