Since I broke my ankle in February, I’ve spent the last 4 weeks in physical therapy re-learning how to walk properly and regaining my range of motion.
I’ve been going to BreakThrough Physical Therapy in Sunnyvale, and despite referring to my appointments as “physical torture”, I don’t think I could ask for a better therapist.
Sarah is quite wonderful, and while my visits tend to be quite painful, that is to be expected after 10 weeks on crutches. My surgery and lack of use and any motion in that joint really resulted in a mess. When I got my cast off, my ankle was still VERY swollen and my range of motion consisted of being able to wiggle my toes and not much else.
Thanks to Sarah (and all the other dedicated people at BreakThrough), I am back to walking normally (with only a slight limp on more painful days) and can actually go up (and down!) stairs again. Hopefully soon I will be able to return to climbing, but for now I am happy with walking.
More about BreakThrough PT:
The location is quite nice, they are just 5 minutes down the street from me in Sunnyvale. Appointment times are for 40 minutes and usually the entire 40 minutes are spent with Sarah, my physical therapist. However, they have a lot of exercises for me to do, plus ice + electric “stim” for 15 minutes at the end, so I usually end up being there for almost an hour and a half.
They have lockers and a place to change, several exercise bikes, a hand bike, balance balls, and a total gym, among other more injury specific tools. Everyone is extremely friendly and the place is very well maintained.
For me, a typical appointment consists of 10 minutes on the bike, 4 sets of 20 double leg press, 3 sets of 10 heel raises, 3 sets of 10 other heel raise thingys, 2 sets of 20 on the circle board (for ankle range of motion), 2 sets of 20 on the balance board, 10 “static” squats for 10 secs each, 3 minutes of “resisted walking” and then 40 minutes of deep tissue massage and ankle manipulation, followed by ice + “stim”.