If, like me, you’ve had to recover from an operation or injury, you’ve probably been introduced to professional physical therapy. Many people in a rehab facility refuse to participate. I felt it was an unwelcome chore that I had to push myself to do. But I did learn that PT can be entertaining as well as strenuous.

One of the most common exercise machines is the bike or reclining stepper. While working out on this can seem dull and repetitive, there are ways to make it more interesting. I worked out on one that had a small screen in front of it. (Did it provide videos of scenic places you’d like to cycle? It did not. But I digress.)

It was like a video game. On the screen were representations of a road and assorted cars and trucks, which scrolled downward into your path as you pedalled. The idea was to avoid the cars by shifting the pressure you exerted with each leg to steer your own car from lane to lane. Your score was based on the number of cars you managed to avoid.

The first time I tried it, I wasn’t very successful. All along the way, I crashed into cars rather than going around them.

Then I realized that when you crashed, the machine produced an appropriate noise of rending metal (Not the screams of any imaginary drivers or passengers. But I digress again.).

Instead of trying to avoid the cars, I made it my personal quest to hit as many as I could. (The PT staff were amused by all the crashing noises and my chortles of glee when I smashed yet another vehicle. But I digress some more.) The last time I used the machine, my score was 45 crashes, with only one car avoided. I couldn’t have smashed that one. It was two lanes over, and I couldn’t make the machine do a Tokyo Drift.

I also liked the bouncy ball exercise. I parked my walker a few feet in front of what looked like an exercise trampoline tipped up at about 40 degrees, so it was impossible to jump up and down on. (At least I never figured out a way, not being up to parkour, even before my injuries. But I digress even more.)

Instead, I was given a ball about the size of a softball. I threw the ball at the trampoline, and somehow the ball bounced back to me, and I caught it. At least that was the idea. It was meant to improve my balance, as I was standing within my walker and leaning in various directions to snag the ball.

Sometimes, however, I would miss the catch. When that happened, I would exclaim, “Ack!” and the therapist had to chase the ball. (I won’t say I missed on purpose, but it was amusing to see her scramble. But I digress yet again.) I also saw some of my fellow therapees using a balloon-sized ball to play a game like volleyball without a net, with roughly the same results—catch or punch the ball so it returned to the therapist, or didn’t.

There were a number of other devices I used. Handles that hung from the top of a door for me to raise and lower alternately, to build up my arms, though all my injuries were below the waist. Jigsaw puzzles to solve or pegboards to fill. (There was nothing wrong with my hands. These activities were for distraction. The therapist timed me to see how long I could stand without tiring. Again, the balance thing. But I digress even again.)

In the rehab facility, I did PT every weekday. Alas, now I’m home and have outpatient therapy only once a week. They have boring equipment. No car crashes. No bouncy balls. No jigsaw puzzles. Only parallel bars and laps around the gym with my walker. PT may now help me grow stronger, but it’s not exercising my sense of humor.