Good PT day

Yesterday we talked to Matt's PT about a few things he wants to work on before we get ready to leave. First, he wants to know how to get down on the ground safely and stand back up again. She started on the mat table to make sure Matt could figure it out before he was actually on the ground. He was pretty quick at working through the process of going from his stomach to his knees and then to standing (all with one arm and a fairly weak leg!). Then she showed him once how to lower himself to the ground and stand back up again and he just copied her with no issues. Goal #1 - check.

Second, she wanted to take him outside to walk up and down a fairly steep hill on his own. He was slightly winded once he got to the top, but otherwise it went fine. Goal #2 - check.

Matt has been getting electric stim on his right leg for several weeks now to make him lift his toes. For a normal person, the machine would be set at 20-30 mAMPs to make the muscle work. Matt started out at 48-55 mAMPs, but today he only required 36! The machine cycles on for 4 seconds and off for 12 seconds for 20 minutes. Afterwards, Matt tries to lift his toes on his own, hoping this process is developing muscle memory - he's up to 10 reps before he can't make it work anymore. The goal is to get the setting below 30 and be able to do 20 reps afterwards, so he's well on his way.

I also snuck into his afternoon session today and watched him work on the parallel bars. Last time I saw him try to walk sideways, he would take very small steps with his right foot by leaning to the left and really swinging his leg out using just his hip muscles. Today he could step to the right almost naturally - he stayed upright and stepped over by picking up his right leg. It wore him out, but he looked great!