Spondylolisthesis Physical Therapy day 3

Physical Therapy day 3 - Spondylolisthesis BJJ

Wednesday 6/29/2016.  They reversed the warm-up today.   1st was a timed exercise on a total gym machine incline body weight squats taking my legs to a 90 degree angle.  Continuous squats for 3 minutes.

2nd warm-up was 6 minutes on the stationary bike with resistance level of 4. 


Following that was resistance bands around both ankles as I did side walks down the path and back a total of 2 times there and back.  .

Hamstring door stretch: 

 

1 minute stretch each leg 2 sets 

Pelvic tilts:  

 

While lying on the therapy table I did 30 pelvic tilts - hold each while pressing my lower back into the table. 

Pelvic tilts and bridge:  Same movement as above but instead of pressing my low back into the table they had me hold the pelvic tilt and bridge lifting my hips off the table.

I held this bridge in the air for a count of 5 and then back down and relax for 1.  I did this for 3 minutes. 

Pelvic tilt crunches: 

I had never done crunches like these before and they were tiring on my abs.  Lay flat with knees bent like the picture above.  Do a pelvic tilt and hold it continuously while you do 30 crunches slowly just to the point where your hands go over your knees.  This gave a good abdominal burn! 

Modified bicycle crunches:  Another one that I had not done before.  I had done plenty of bicycle crunches where you are laying flat and you bring your opposite knee to your opposite elbow but this was different.  Instead of bring your elbow to your knee - you kept your arm straight and it went back behind your head as the knee came up and then switched for the other knee.  This was done for 3 sets of 30 seconds. 

Side leg raises: 

30 repetitions for each leg. I was surprised by how much they burned at the end.  The physical therapist also had me bring my foot slightly behind me as I was doing each leg raise.  This felt like it worked my glutes a little more by doing so. 

Isometric hands against knees:   Both knees at the same time (different from picture below)

With back flat on the table you lift both your knees up feet off the table.  Your cross hands to opposite knees and press against your knees while you try to pull your knees towards your hands.  Hold for 30 seconds.  2nd set was same as before but you switched your hands to be straight forward left to left knee and right to right knee.  3rd set was same as before but you put your palms flat on the ground  next to your hips and pressed into the ground with your hands while keeping your knees up. 

Table hamstring stretch:  Back on the table with on leg in the air hooked to the stretch strap in order to hold in place while the other leg lay flat on the table.  Pic below the bottom leg is meant to be straight.  

1 minute stretch for each leg 2 times each.


IT band stretch:  Keep back flat on the therapy table using the stretch strap to stretch my IT band.

One leg flat on the table with the other leg in the air held straight using the stretch strap to pull across my body.  Still very inflexible here and I need more work in this area.   1 minute each leg 2 times each. 


Inner thigh / Groin stretch: 

 

Laying flat I cross one leg and push my knee away.  1 minute each leg 2 times each.  

Buttock/Hamstring stretch:  

This stretch felt good as it stretched many muscles.  I will be adding this to my BJJ class stretches when I return to coaching. 


Thomas stretch:  This one was done with the assistance of the therapist.  

I sat on the front edge of the therapy table and then laid back and pulled one knee up into my chest while the therapist stretched the hanging leg down towards the floor. This time though the therapist showed me how my bottom leg pulled outward away from my other leg.  She said that was because my IT band on the outside of my thigh is so tight.  She pushed inwards during the stretch to help me stretch it. 

Lastly, I had mentioned to my therapist that right below my knee would start to hurt after about 20 minutes of walking.  I figured it was patellar tendonitis which she mostly confirmed after pressing on my tendon and talking to me about it.  She suggested using the ice cup for icing it. 

You can make you own or you can buy it online.  I will try and make my own and do as suggested using it each night for the next couple of night and also after walking or when it hurts. 

Next PT Session is Friday and I feel like I'm making good progress between the rest and the PT sessions.