Last night’s workout: 4.1 miles on the treadmill at 8:49 pace. Heading to the gym again tonight. I think I like working out after work better than before. Anyone have a specific time of the day they like to workout?
During my junior year of high school, I went on a ski trip with my church’s youth group. We went every year and always had a good time. It was the first run after lunch and I went down on an ice patch. I remember everything that happened during my fall and I remember hearing a big pop. Well, that pop was my ACL. That summer I had surgery to replace my ACL with my patellar tendon and the long road to recovery began. This was back in 1994 before arthroscopic surgery was performed for this injury so I needed two surgeons and three days in the hospital.
Pic from www.nlm.nih.gov
That summer I went to physical therapy 4 days a week and wore a different type of brace for nearly a year. I told myself that I couldn’t cry even though it was so painful and that I would never feel sorry for myself. I think that helped me recover even quicker.
I was getting better by the summer I went off to college, but my scar always gave me trouble. It ended up that I had hypertrophic scarring and the scar tissue was also in my knee joint. My scar was really sensitive (painful to the touch), I couldn’t kneel and it was making my joint stiff and painful. So, to fix the problem I was sent off to a plastic surgeon that had to do reconstructive surgery on my knee. It was actually performed in two surgeries. The first was to put two bag-implants in my knee, which were filled each week with saline solution in order to stretch the skin. The second was to remove the implants, cut out the scar and sew it back up in a way that would prevent the scarring. This was the first time the surgeon had performed this type of surgery on a knee and it was a success! Having my knee stretched each week was really painful though. The whole process took about 2 and a half months.
Pre-injury during spring track. I loved throwing the javelin!
Fast forward to 2005 and I decided I was brave enough to try skiing again. Well, I went snowboarding a fell on my first run of the day. Another surgery was needed on my knee. Ughh. That surgery was easier. It was done arthroscopically and my recovery time was just a few weeks. Here I was, 28 and already had 4 knee surgeries. My doctor sat me down and said, either lose weight and workout daily or you will be here each year for knee surgery until we end up replacing the whole knee in your 40s. That hit me like a ton of bricks.
I didn’t start running right away. I lost the weight slowly by working out on the elliptical and eating better. After mastering the elliptical, I tried spinning. A whole new challenge which I loved. After spinning for over a year, I started running on the treadmill. Slowly at first then I increased my distance and pace. I was running for 9 months before I signed up for my first race. I do tend to run more on treadmills than outside. It helps that the treadmill has a bit of cushioning to it compared with the roads.
My scar last night and it’s about 8 inches long. It’s gotten so much better, has really faded over the years. It looks like a lightening bolt (so Harry Potter of me)
Recovering from an injury is hard. It’s tough mentally, physically and emotionally. Some people think I am crazy to even run after what my knee has been through but my doctor said it is fine. If my doctor told me running wasn’t a good thing for me, I wouldn’t be doing it. I am happy to report that my knee never hurts during or after long runs. I have strengthened all the muscles around it, so I don’t have any problems. I used to have chronic bursitis but since I’ve started running that has basically stopped. Because of all the surgeries my knees are too different sizes and shapes, but that’s just me now 🙂 It does make finding knee-high boots to fit very hard. I also made a promise to my doctor to never ski again!
Funny side note: I have a couple of screws in my knee from the 1st surgery but my parents never told my 16yr old self that at the time. I went to the doc in 2005 and he took an x-ray of my knee to see what was going on. I got back to the examination room and the x-rays were up. I didn’t know I had screws so I asked the doc who’s knee was that jacked up..he responded that it was my knee. Ummm, duh!
Are you recovering from an injury? Any tips on coming back from an injury?
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, trainer, or PT. If you have an injury or think you do, please contact your doctor to discuss. This is just the story of my injury and my experiences.
I am happy to report that before last night’s workout I had me some of this
I love Chobani and it helps keep the Hangry Monster at bag. The commuting monster did come out last night though. Who knew that just one train stuck in the tunnel can make an hour long commute into 2.5 hours? ughh
I also decided to go with the sapphire bling in my wedding band. I am so excited and the big day is coming up quickly 🙂
runbakerace 