The Extensionator

You may have heard people refer to physical therapy (PT) by many names.  Among them, physical torture.  I have, in fact, used that term. 

Yesterday it was particularly appropriate.  Yesterday my physical therapist (professional torturer) brought out the extensionator.

You may be wondering just what an extensionator is.  Let me try to explain.  Imagine that you are lying on the table in the physical therapy room attached to a device from hip to foot.  This device only fits under one side of your body, which makes it not very comfortable.  But that's only the beginning.  Your ankle is in a cuff, to prevent any rotation, and then something like a blood pressure cuff is placed around your thigh, just above the knee, and inflated until it feels like an elephant is sitting on your leg.  Then you just lie there for ten minutes while this device stretches your leg muscles to get full extension.

Gloom, despair, and agony!

The point of all this physical therapy is to strengthen my leg muscles, both as a preparation for knee replacement surgery and to take some stress off my knee, in the hope of minimizing my pain.  I confess that when my rheumatologist first mentioned physical therapy as a way to deal with the knee pain, I was skeptical.  Very skeptical.  But she was right.  Therapy has made a difference, in my mobility and in my pain levels.  (I guess these doctors do know a little something after all!)  I've gained greater flexibility in my knee as well.  I can even put my own socks on and off now, a task that just wasn't possible a few weeks ago. 

I've made some good progress in every area but one.  I still don't have good extension in my leg.  In other words, it won't straighten completely, no matter how many stretching exercises we have done.  Therefore, the extensionator.

When Caitlin first mentioned the extensionator at the end of last week's session, I had no idea what it was.  And the more I thought about it all week, the more it sounded like something I wasn't really interested in!  In fact, I was hoping she had forgotten about it.  But no such luck.  It was one of the first things she mentioned when I walked in yesterday, and as soon as I had finished my warm-up, here she came with that device.

Ten minutes of misery.  Gloom, despair, and agony on me!

Lying on a therapy table unable to move for ten minutes while life goes on around you gives you plenty of thinking time.  Especially when it feels like there is an elephant sitting on your leg, that thinking time helps take your mind off the "elephant", particularly if, as I did, you focus your mind on something else.  Yesterday, just as I often do when I'm in the dentist's chair (another of my not-so-favorite places), I recited some favorite Bible passages.  Not out loud, but in my mind.

It certainly helped to pass the time.  And what better way to pass the time than by focusing on God's Word!

Here's one of the passages that got me through my time with the extensionator:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to al without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."  (James 1:2-6 NIV)

You may not have an extensionator to deal with.  But you probably have some "elephant" in your life.  We all have them.

My best advice to you for dealing with "elephants" is to have some Scriptures tucked away in your memory bank.  They can provide real comfort when there are "elephants" and "extensionators" to deal with.

"Thy word have I hid in my heart."  (Psalm 119:11)