Damn Knee!

• Monday, March 11th, 2013
• by neil

As many of you know, I’ve been dealing with a knee injury for a while now.  Here’s the story:

I first injured it last June doing the Junk Yard Dog warm-up – what should have been a simple jump and land.  But on the landing, the instant sharp pain let me know something was not quite right.

My training since then has been very intermittent. My knee would start to feel better, almost normal, until something would set it off again.  In September, warming up for the Whole Life Challenge WOD, same sharp pain showed up, this time from running.  My in-house medical staff (Amy) and the PT I was seeing for my shoulder (another story!) both agreed it was a medial meniscus injury.  Went to see an orthopedic Dr. who recommended letting it rest and see what happened. 

About six weeks later, I reinjured it again in South Carolina running.  I was able to go on an Appalachian Trail hike in early November, and get through the Holidays.  But after reinjuring the knee twice at home in February, it was time to take further action.

An MRI revealed that it was indeed, in the Dr.’s words, “A big ‘ol tear!”  The tear turned out to be even bigger than he thought.  When he did the surgery, he ended up having to remove 50% of the medial meniscus, which is apparently a lot!

Now I am three days post-op, the swelling is going down and there has been no real pain.  I’ve been limiting the range of motion, using lots of cold compression therapy, and keeping it elevated.  Following orders!

Reflecting back on the whole process, I missed a lot of opportunities in my training.  Whenever I was hurt, I would train little, if at all.  And even when my knee started to feel better, I didn’t plan out what it is I was going to do.  That lack of planning has left me where I am now – with a lot of work to do.  Yes, I would still have work to do on my injured leg, but I neglected the rest of me as well.  Stay tuned, and I will post occasional updates on my rehab – which means I will be working a plan.

If you find yourself with an injury, the best advice I can give you is to develop a plan for dealing with it while minimizing the loss of previous gains.  Ask your coaches for help, there are a variety of options available to you to develop your plan.

Thanks for all the healing wishes, and I look forward to training with you all again soon.