2+ years: Update
Managed to go on a 5km hike up and down hills yesterday without a brace. Knee only tingled slightly afterwards. But other unoperated knee was doing the same. So all is a-okay. Still doing hamstring exercises and using the exercise bike every couple of days, but not nearly as intensely as I did all last year. It’s more of a general ‘keep fit’ programme now.
All good in da hood and I couldn’t be feeling more content with everything.
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Engaged in a few running drills on Wednesday morning. Running to one witch’s hat, doing a couple of squats, running backwards, then running to a second witch’s hat, doing a couple more squats etc. etc. Also doing this drill but running to the witch’s hat sideways.
Left leg felt very leaden, particularly when leading sideways. And, I realised later, after the adrenalin of running had worn off, that Knee did not appreciate drills at all. The lower front of my knee is a tad swollen and though I have no trouble flexing the leg and walking, Knee does not appreciate being fully straightened. The front is causing some tightness problems.
Taking a rest from treadmill now and concentrating on usual *yawn* exercises.
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Well, technically, the six month anniversary of my last op is tomorrow. But I’m not going to be pernickety.
Saw the physio on Tuesday. I explained to her about my gym session previously, where I’d forgotten to tape my knee and jogging was on the treadmill for about a minute before I started getting sharpish pains in my knee, whereupon I ceased said jogging. She had a look at my squats (single and double leg) and decided that it was still that irritatingly-hard-to-jig inner quad muscle, which keeps the kneecap in its proper place, which was the source of the problem. She had a look at my running style and was pleased to note that I’m not favouring any particular leg (yay!) although, in the grand tradition of most ACL rehabees, my left side overall, apart from the inner quad muscle, is stronger than my right side.
Anyway, her solution for the inner quad muscle issue:
1. (more!) single leg squats, and making sure that particular muscle was being worked as I did them.
2. Double leg squats also – my goal is to be able to squat like the old (or young, on reflection) Asian men you see by roadsides in China, the fingers of one hand curled around the ember of a cigarette, the other hand occupied with absent-mindedly picking his nose with the long nail of its little finger. Anyway, I’m just to concentrate on the squatting and believe me, to all those ‘whole’ folk out there who have never been bedevilled by a knee, hip or ankle injury, it’s harder than you think!
3. Lunges – again making sure the inner quad muscle is being worked.
Exercise
I’ve been doing single leg squats religiously – whilst brushing teeth, making a coffee at work, waiting for my lunch to be warmed up in a microwave. I’ve been able to almost get the full Asian man squat but left leg does not do it as easily as the right one, and does bend at a slightly different angle to account for the restrictive feeling in my knee.
Jogging
Yesterday, headed off to the gym without taping my knee (for mnemonic reasons, rather than any other) and was quite pleased that I was able to jog for four minutes without any real issues. Knee started to get a little weary which is why I held off jogging any further.
The Daily Grind
In terms of the day to day, I have no issues with:
1. Walking to and from work – I can even match most Londoners’ pace now and find myself tut-tut-tutting at indecisive ambling tourists who insist on crawling along in large groups which take up most of the pavement, only to suddenly stop and pull out a map, thus almost causing a collision.
2. Dancing – well, yes, I am as guilty of apeing the iPod ad as anyone else, in the sancitity of my home. Amazing to be able to do this again without sharpish pains or feeling my knee would collapse at any given moment.
3. Stairs – no problems going up or going down. My left leg descent is almost as strong as my right leg descent now.
Going Forward
So, in a couple of weeks, I’m to report back to the twice-weekly ACL class for sprinting drills. Physio said I probably wasn’t strong enough to start hopping yet, but that would come in time. At the moment, I’m just to build myself up to running for 10 mins.
Michael
I’m pretty bad at updating stuff, but as everyone’s probably realised, Michael Owen is back on the field. I particularly like this article about him, confirming that apart from the intial injury, length of time to diagnose, and initial rehab, an ACL injury can be good for you. I admit I haven’t been this fit or strong for years!
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Knee has settled down. No instability; it clicks/cracks when eg. I’m standing at the sink and I turn to move away from the sink; an ickle bit o’swelling at the end of the day after a substantial day of walking, without being taped.
The physio’s take:
This is normal. Keep going to the gym and building up the quads and it will sort itself out. There may just be some damage to the cartilege (likely as both sides of the knee still felt tender to touch) and some damage to the back of the knee cap. Unfortunately, because I’ve had a revision, Knee probably won’t feel 100% for about 2-3 years. Initially, the tunnels widen out but as the bone hardens and scar tissue forms, this will settle down. Meanwhile, I should get back to my normal routine and build myself up to running again. In particular, I should focus on:
1. Stretching out my quads (when stretching my right leg’s quads, the foot easily touches the bum; however, my left foot can only get to around 15cm from the bum)
2. Single leg squats – 5-6 about 10x during the day is the best.
3. Going down the stairs – normally, or focusing on actual dips.
4. Think about taking glucosamine to help with the cartilege.
5. To leave the knee untaped except for gym sessions.
The consultant’s (stand in) take:
Blip was the result of the adhesions and scar tissue loosening. After doing the usual pull/push/tug tests, she was happy with my progress and I’m to report back in about 4 months and if all goes well (touch wood), I should be discharged then.
Off the record, I trust my physio’s take more. Have purchased glucosamine (Holland & Barrett are having a fab sale!) and have started taking them. Off to the gym tomorrow.
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4.5 Months: Physio’s Take
After the usual tests (watching me do one legged and two legged squats and pulling, twisting, tugging and pushing my knee from all angles) and a revision of my symptoms (tenderness on both sides of the knee, minimal locking which can be ‘unlocked’ by moving the knee in another way, a little instability, swelling after a 30min walk, most swelling in the evening, instability in the morning, clunking kneecap), the physio concluded that the problem lies with my patellofemoral joint and that all ligaments, cruciate and collateral are intact (phew!).
Which is consistent with my previous ‘bump’ a few weeks ago (before I started running) which had similar symptoms although not as persistent.
Her solution: She taped my knee – I recollect she called it medial taping, although I could be wrong – and it immediately felt more stable. I’m to tape my knee from now on, although giving it a rest every couple of days or so.
I’m to keep doing the following exercises until I see her in 1.5 weeks:
- knee dips – single and double (the latter hilariously called ‘policemen’s squats’ by one of my colleagues)
- going down stairs slowly
- glute strengthening exercises
Will report on how these exercises are progressing in the next couple of days.
Knee today does not feel different although it was taped up for the latter half of yesterday. I am remaining ‘untaped’ as I am merely pottering around the house, cooking up a Good Friday lunch for friends today.
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Oops. I’ve hit a bit of a hump on the rocky road to 100% functioning knee. I started running, under the watchful eye of the physio about two weeks ago. Initially for about 2 minutes, then a walk for 3 mins etc. etc. And it felt amazing. For someone who hadn’t run for almost five years, the hyper, giggling inducing after-effects were heady and highly addictive. I began to run – not longer than 3 minutes at a stretch – each time I was at the gym. But this has stopped suddenly. Last Sunday, my knee wasn’t feeling great; it was a bit swelley, and just felt a bit unstable. Therefore, I kept to the stepper, cross trainer, the bike and the usual gym ball stretches and quad strengthening exercises. I also minimised walking to and from work by catching buses and a couple of lifts home. But knee is still a bit swelley… and slightly worryingly, the swelling doesn’t seem to completely disappearing after a night’s sleep, which it has done up until last Sunday.
Might give the gym a miss today and rest knee thoroughly. It was all going so well and the physio had advised that my exercise regime should be gearing me up to running drills and therefore I was to: (1) start hopping – forward to backward, side to side and eventually in a zig zag pattern (2) stop the lunges and concentrate on squats – single and double and press down as far as I could go though not through pain (3) go up stairs 2 at a time (4) practice going down stairs slowly (5) single leg bridging exercises on the gym ball (6) concentrate on building up my right glute – it seems that I’ve rehabbed my left side so much that my left glutes are fine but my right glutes are weak and therefore will cause me trouble when i’m running if left in their current state (7) persist with the quad presses and hamstring curls.
In any case, I believe I shall have this current ‘hump’ checked out by my physio.
Ahh well. Perhaps perusing the Observer while checking out that new rather swish coffee place around the corner will be a suitable alternative to sweating at a gym on a sunny Sunday London afternoon!
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Well, Michael Owen’s back on track. And as of tomorrow, I’m official three months post-op – an important date as, according to the physio, it may mean I’m able to run. Have been (fairly) diligently going to the twice weekly ACL class… okay, okay… 8 o’clock mornings – stupid o’clock, as far as I’m concerned – even if the hospital is about a 20 minute ride away from me, has been HELL and I’ve probably missed 3 classes during the last 4 weeks… Yes yes I haven’t been paying Knee the utmost attention but now that the distraction out of the picture, I can relax and get on with what should have been my primary focus all along. It’s just that, after oooh, more than 2 years of having to constantly think about Knee, well… it was nice for life not to entirely revolve around it, which was possible after the most recent op.
But a quick trip down the littlest Tate flume this lunchtime, which left me feeling a little queasy, brought me back to earth with a jolt. Quite literally. I think the abrupt bend in the icklest slide jarred Knee a little. Sharp, but not severe, pain has been niggling Knee since on the lower interior bit (forgive me for use of non technically accurate jargon) when it is in certain positions. As is the norm now, I came home and immediately elevated it. Probably should have RICE’d it but the prospect of a cold pack in the middle of a London winter did not appeal.
Will check it with the physio tomorrow, although given that I’ve missed a few classes and engaged in a premature jogging stunt, probably will not overly endear me to them.
Here’s an interesting BBC link about Michael’s surgeon, Mr Richard Steadman.
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Day 65: A Running Mistake
The Friday before New Year’s proved to be a messy affair which ended with me making my way down a major London street, with two friends, rather too briskly than my knee would have liked. I protested, tipsy but aware that I should not, in fact, be running. But my similarly inebriated friends ignored me.
The next morning, knee was swollen and a little warm, but not overly so. After a day’s rest, it calmed down, although it is a little scrunchier than before.
A visit to the physio last Tuesday calmed my fears a little. Physio assured me the graft was still extremely stable and that in any case, around 6-7 weeks, it would start to get a little unstable.
Still persisting with the gym and lunges and squats. All seems to be well although I’m more careful and less flippant in my treatment of knee than before the jogging incident.
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Day 47: (6+ weeks)
Happily walked without a care in the world to the hospital today. No instability, no pain… totally light on my feet and feeling back to normal.
The Registrar (the consultant, unsurprisingly, was away, no doubt enjoying the Alps, or the blustery Christmas-ness of Scotland) was very happy with the knee itself, and the healing of the wounds.
Back to see him in four months, right before my birthday.
Meanwhile, ACl class begins on 17 January and I’m still plugging along at the yawnsome gym.
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Day 30: La la la la la!
First week of work type situation (ie. commute to office by bus, 10 min walk, sat at desk in front of computer for 7.5 hrs, commute back home) has gone absolutely swimmingly. The first couple of days were a bit shaky; muscles had obviously gotten a bit lazy and gone into hibernation from being off feet for the last 3 weeks. Walking was extremely slow but by the end of the week, all was well. Though my walk is not as brisk as the average Londoner’s (yet!) and I’ve usually got my head down – not to avoid the gaze of others, as is the wont of most Londoners – to be on the lookout for any unexpected dips or bumps in the notoriously uneven pavements, its been absolutely brilliant. I had not expected for knee to feel so normal after 4 weeks.
At the risk of being premature (ACL grafts are always initially tight and progressively loosen up), knee instability seems to be a thing of the past. Puffiness is minimal and disappears after a good night’s sleep. I’m continuing with ’soft’ exercises and cannot wait until I get the all-clear from the physio this Wednseday to progress onto the heavier impact-based ones. Not the least because lounging around doing nothing during winter’s onset has meant I’ve put on a bit of weight!
Oddly, right leg, from whence the hamstring graft was harvested is experiencing twinges when I stand in certain positions. Apparently, the only exercise necessary for the right leg is to walk lots. It took awhile for my left leg to adjust to decreased hamstring status after the April 2005 op. I assume it is just a matter of time before right leg feels ‘normal’.
Scars on both legs are also healing nicely and have not gotten inflammed, as happened after Oct 2005 op. Have been massaging both to prevent them ’sticking’ but have not gotten stuck into them with the dodgy Vitamin E cream which I believe was the cause of the inflammation last year.
Prognosis: Bloody brilliant!
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Recent Entries
- 2+ years: Update
- 6+ months: Not the Running Drills
- Six Months: Tootling along nicely
- 5 months, 6 days: ‘blip’ explained
- 4.5 Months: Physio’s Take
- 4.5 Months: Almost Running/Hopping
- Three Months less one day: plodding on
- Day 65: A Running Mistake
- Day 47: (6+ weeks)
- Day 30: La la la la la!
- Day 23: First Jaunt
