First official day of PT

I survived my first day of PT! Not that it was all that, but I wasn't sure what to expect since the only other time I'd been to PT was when I had tendonitis in my right shoulder. Anyway, we started out with eight minutes on a recumbent stepper...I had no idea such a thing existed. No problems with that although I did break a bit of a light sweat averaging 130 steps/minute; note to self, bring a towel with me to the appointment on Monday. Next came some serious stretching using a strap (calves & hamstrings), knees to chest and sitting crossover pull stretches...couldn't do them laying down as my hip is too tight. Next we moved onto exercises, first squeezing a bolster between my knees and doing a pelvic bridge holding for 5 seconds and doing 10 reps. The standing adductor and abductor machine was next...we'll probably use the rubber straps next time as the machine was a bit awkward. 

Can you imaging doing a squat on this,
standing on the flat part?

The one exercise I totally sucked on was doing squats on half of a foam log with the curved side down...my balance is fairly non-existent...so I've already been warned that that'll be something we'll be working on as that'll help strengthen my glutes and other small hip flexor muscles. Manipulation was next, not in the full realigning as in a chiropractor but by resistance. John, the therapist, would support my left leg while I pushed against him for 10 seconds at a time for 10 reps. Apparently that exercise helps to move the hip back into the correct position. We did have to do a second set after he checked my alignment and to my surprise, I could actually tell that there was an improvement because his thumbs were almost at the same exact level when he checked the tops of my iliac crest on both sides...yay! I spent the next 15 or so minutes on the diathermy lamp, deep penetrating heat, before finishing up for the day. 

My hip hasn't been bothering me much today but I haven't been on the elliptical yet. I need to try to do 39 minutes to take the place of my running...that should be fun since it usually knocks me on my butt in less than 5 minutes! So, here I go...get back into my workout gear and onto my arch nemesis...the elliptical! Wish me luck! lol!

Update: I was only able to do 20 minutes on the elliptical tonight. meh.