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Ms.Kim Reiser - Mountain Hiker More
I continue to be excited and thankful about my progress. At the end of week 4, I was hiking at the edge of the wilderness again and doing stream crossings in the crystal clean mountain water. (photo attached) During the 6th week, my hiking time was up to 8 hours on relatively easy terrain along the headwaters of the Dearborn river. My quads and hamstrings are building strength daily and the ROM is almost back to normal. I still am challenged by a full squat but I keep working on it each day using props for support.
John LaPointes' Double Knee Replacement
Dr. Bose, firstly I want to thank you again for the "miracle" of the new knees. After the initial recovery I have been Pain free. Before it was a struggle to walk one block, and tennis was becoming more difficult and increasing painful (a constant 7). Now I can walk comfortably for any reasonable distance, and have become a "butterfly on the court".
The information I am sending you is a record of the stretching for the knees and the dates and rate of increasing range of movement. All of this was accomplished with a variety of exercises, and painful but successful forced stretching of the knee ligaments.
The ankle weights you saw in the photo album were used as a constant tension on the knees. But it was also necessary to apply more painful stretching pressure using my hands as the pulling force.
The measurements I am giving you are reasonably but not necessarily scientifically accurate. Also, as a form of personal encouragement I always took the measurements after a session of stretching. Better for the morale!
I recently played tennis with Terry Salo, another one of your success stories and I know he would want me to extend his greetings and heartfelt thanks.
| Date | Left Knee | Right Knee |
|---|---|---|
| August 2, 2007 | 115 | 105 |
| August 16 | 118 | 108 |
| Sept. 2 | 123 | 112 |
| Oct. 8 | 128 | 118 |
| Nov. 14 | 130 | 120 |
| Dec. 25 | 132 | 124 |
| Jan. 31, 2008 | 132 | 126 |
| March 12 | 135 | 128 |
| April 18 | 138 | 132 |
| May 21 | 140 | 135 |
| July 14 | 144 | 143 |
I am currently around 130' for both knees.
Taking measurements of the original knee photos I had sent you it looks like my left knee had 106' and right knee 92'.
Upon returning to Canada I did go to a therapist who said that the exercises I was doing were what he would have recommended. Also, he said that 2' more range of motion a month was probably all I could hope to accomplish.
Thank you and all the best from John and Rosa.
