PT / Exercise

Range of motion to weight-bearing.

The PT and movement progression, from early range-of-motion work through weight-bearing.

The iWALK is part of the program

A smiling woman in a gray t-shirt and blue jeans throws both arms up in the air, hands free, with a black-and-blue iWALK hands-free crutch strapped to her bent left leg and a blue sneaker on her standing right foot.

It looks like a gadget, but it’s doing real PT work. Living on crutches 24/7 dumps the whole load onto my hips, lower back, and one good leg, and that’s how you trade a foot problem for a hip problem. The iWALK hands-free crutch straps to my bent knee and lets me stand and move upright, evenly, with both hands back. It keeps me out of the baby-giraffe crutch hunch and keeps my hips from getting totally jacked up while the foot heals. The full gear-day story is in the journal.

Physical with Travolta: daily morning stretches

A black-and-white photo from a 1984 fitness book: a young John Travolta in a black sleeveless unitard and white headband sits on the floor with his legs extended straight in front of him, arms reaching forward over his legs mid-stretch.

Twenty minutes of floor stretches every morning, following the Beginner section of John Travolta, Staying Fit! (1984, spandex included). It’s all non-weight-bearing floor work, so it’s safe even in the soft-cast-and-stitches phase, and it directly counters what couch-and-crutches life does to a body: tight hips, a locked-up back, hunched shoulders. The rules are simple: every day, no skipping, no jumping ahead to the Intermediate section, and no weight training until the doctor clears it. The origin story is in the journal.

More PT detail coming as the recovery progresses.