Improved Recovery with Physical Therapy [Mike Zobel]

My name is Mike Zobel. I'm from Arlington, South Dakota and I like to play golf - not very good - but I enjoy going out and get some exercise doing it. Like to camp, like to spend time with my family.

Why did you receive physical therapy at Brookings Health System?

I had knee surgery so I needed to do some therapy. I guess the reason I came to here was my son had gone to Gavin a couple years ago or so and we had good results from that.

What condition was discovered after your first knee replacement?

My surgeon, which was Dr. Reiber, he said I am one of the one percent that when I get scar tissue, I get it really bad and that affects how it will bend. My body reacts differently to when you get that tissue cut into. And it gets really bad anytime you have a scar. The scar tissue just goes like this.

How did the staff accommodate your scar tissue condition?

It was the different exercises and the equipment that they have. It seems pretty simple but from the tail end of the last one and the beginning of this one, the exercises that I was doing and the techniques they did are what I would consider got me going faster than I did the first time.

What issue was discovered during physical therapy after your second knee replacement?

The second time, they knew what we were looking for right away. And I was rolling right along. It was going good and then I hit the third week and we had no progress whatsoever. Stan was who my therapist was and he called my doctor up right away and says, "I think we need to go in and manipulate it the second time," which was the other one, too. So I think from the tail end of the first one and the knowledge that we had, they were always on top of it.

How did the staff encourage you to continue physical therapy at home?

You better be doing it at home, too, what they're telling you or it's gonna take a lot longer. And I think they can kind of feel out whether you've done that or not. A lot of the stuff they use to do their therapy you can relate it to something at home so you can use it at home. Whether it's put a couple books down, you know, they use a board or whatever they have. You can use similar things at home to get the job done. You don't have to buy special things. You can relate it to something, stuff you have at home. And I thought that was kind of nice. There's something at home you can use to get the same result. And I think that helped.

What was the recovery time difference between your first and second knee replacement?

I probably was out by the time I went part-time and everything else, close to three months on the first one. And I was back in six weeks on the second one a part-time basis.

How did the physical therapy team accommodate your work schedule?

It was convenient for me because I could come and go from work either before or after. And I'd come in and there's times where if they had to reschedule, they fit me in to when it worked for me. There was a couple times where somebody wasn't gonna be there when he needed something off and we worked back and forth together great. And if I needed to change it for half an hour, they fit me back in. So it was a good experience that way.

What would you tell others considering physical therapy at Brookings Health System?

I would highly recommend them because I still think that's why it went so much faster the next time. They were right on top of everything. Like I said, the second one going along great for two weeks and all of a sudden, we hit that stretch where it doesn't do anything. And Stan was right on top, called the surgeon and, "Yup, we need to go in and manipulate it again." I was kind of hoping to avoid that but then we were right back on track again. And a lot of the things they do there it almost looks too simple but what they do works.

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