Today was a tough day. My regular aide was not there so I got this young buff guy who's voice was extremely calm, but his method was a bit tortuous. Just keep in mind this picture shows a shuttle which is something I have to go on every session. I'll explain later...
My physio heard about my progress and is aiming for next week to remove the tape. Although it makes my knee feel invincible I have to learn to be without it if I am to see if I really can heal on my own. Oh, and apparently supplements hit a sore spot with my physio. I asked him about MSM and glucosomine, you know the supps that are for joint nutrition. He visibly got disturbed. Guess he doesn't believe in them. He said just take my vitamins and anti-inflamatory meds. I had cut down on motrin because it was messing up my stomach and decreasing my appetite, which is not a bad thing when you're not exercising as much. I actually lost a good 5 lbs since I got hurt. Go figure, last time I injured my knee I blew up a bit from the decrease in activity. Anyways, the workout in general was tougher due to a new more detailed aide so I can imagine I will be sore tomorrow.
Lastly, I hit my mini-gol. I took the train yesterday. The stairs were not a problem going up or down. I even jogged a little bit to catch the evening train. That did not feel great, but no pain. Hmmm so what should be my next mini-gol? No more tape obviously, but let's go further. How about jumping without pain, but this is jumping on the shuttle. The contraption you see in the picture. they did lay down the agility ladder today for someone else and I saw a soccer ball in the clinic. My little feet just wanted to grab that ball and start dribbling it around. :) Pretending I just got back to GOOOOOOOOOOLLL! (A girl can dream)
Today's Routine:- 7 minute warm up on spin bike
- 7 30 second sprint then 30 second rest on spin bike
- Bridges - on my back, legs a bit bent with weight on my heels, 15 second hold bridge, 15 small pumps, 15 second hold. 5 of these. I had a mirror next to me and I could really work on my form here. Not bad muscle tone in my thighs. hehe I know I'm a bit narcisistic :)
- Side leg raises, hold 15 seconds then 15 pumps. On my right side the aide had me lift my straight left leg up while he pushed down on my hip. He made sure I was in perfect alignment. Then I bent my knee and in this position did the same thing. The last position was bringing the bent knee more towards my chest and doing the reps. Here after my 15 raises the aide made me do 10 mini pumps with my leg up. I looked like a dog going pee and I probably should have worn pants. oopsie! After the 10 mini-pumps he made me push against his hand while my knee was way up there. Felt like I was doing a spread eagle but on my side! Then he asked me my muscle burn count from 1 - 10, when I hit 10 and thought my hip was going to fall off he made me hold for 5 more seconds! Crazy! I repeated this 3 times.
- Knee cap got taped
- 20 x 3 quad set - felt strong
- Shuttle work - The new aide made sure my knee was slightly out which put a bit more tension on my knee itself, but forced my quad to work harder to keep my knee from doing the work. At the same time he made me bend my good knee toward my chest. Then he went through holds with me and when I reached the high of a 10 burn he'd hold it for 5 more counts. Ouch! He had me in a compromising positionand you know when it gets tough you get that strained look on your face, start breathing hard... How embarrassing! Oh well all in the name of rehab. Went through 3 sets of this.
- 20 x 3 calf raises - not bad. A nice break from the shuttle exercises.
- squats x 3 sets - squatting and holding at different depths of the squat. This aide really made me work on my form. Butt had to be all the way back like I was trying to sit and legs felt a bit more wider than usual which made me work harder. Once he had me perfectly squatted in a deep squat 15 pumps up and down then hold. And then came the blasted 5 count after hitting 10 on the burn meter. I seriously had to walk a couple laps after each set to let my legs recover.
- 15 x 3 quad set with leg raise. I jumped back on the table for these relaxing exercises considering the torture I just went through.
- (5 x 40 x 5 30 x 5 x 20 x 5) x 3 sets: Quad pumps on the table. Same position as quad set except heel is off the table. Hold 5 then pump 40 then hold, then pump.... All the while keeping your biofeedback reading at maximum activation. Tougher than before because the aide made me do them correctly.
- Ice to go
Today I started to drill my physio. I wanted to know what would be my chances of getting hurt if I did not operate. He was saying how my left knee will be vulnerable from now on. It is imperative my leg stay at it's maximum strength. But I told him, with my right knee after the surgery and 2 stints of rehab and months of a trainer I stopped working as hard on my right leg and its fine. The physio then said with the articular cartilage damage I have it will always be vulnerable. He wasn't even worried about the meniscus tear so I started thinking, "wait can my knee injury be fixed by surgery or is that it I have to live with this and be careful?" You can be sure that I'll be asking more questions and contacting my ortho doc to find out. Now I'm really curious. That's just me, whenever I got sick or injured I had to do my research and have a clue. I like to know enough to be dangerous. ;) Ok so back to the workout. Physio wanted more to be added, really push again. Make Sure I left tired. So hammies are sore. I took off tape right away after icing so I can force my knee to work on it's own. Knee was clicking a bit. A little stiff when sitting for a while. Legs feel tired in general. Oh, who am I kidding I've been exhausted all day and my knee is a bit swollen. I just pray it calms down tomorrow with some rest and that I didn't over do it. Tomorrow Costa Rica plays so maybe watching the game will get my healing juices flowing. At least stairs are getting easier so I'm getting close to my current mini-gol. Back to gol with less cartilage, some exposed bone, eh I might be playing in a less competitive league, but I will hear "Gooooool!" again.Today's Routine: - 7 minute warm up on spin bike
- 7 30 second sprint then 30 second rest on spin bike
- Bridges - on my back, legs a bit bent with weight on my heels, 15 second hold bridge, 15 small pumps, 15 second hold. 5 of these. Had to do them over because I did them wrong the first time. No wonder my hamstrings feel tired.
- Knee cap got taped
- 20 x 3 quad set - felt strong
- 15 x 3 quad set with leg raise. For once my quad kept flexed during leg raises
- 10 count x 40 pump x 10 x 30 x 20 x 10 did this 3 times sitting on the edge of the table
- NEW - side leg raises, on my right side the aide had me lift my straight left leg up while he pushed down. The did some raises with the aide providing the resistance. Lot of work on my hip joint, which I don't think was the point. Then I bent my knee and in this position and the same thing. This felt like my hip was going to pop out and my hamstring was engaging. The point of this was to get my glute going. Ya, not so much. Maybe next time I'll have better form.
- Shuttle work - quad was pretty tired but did isometric exercises holding my bent knee at different positions which was burning up my quad. Went through 3 sets of this
- 20 x 3 calf raises - tough since my leg was getting really tired.
- squats x 3 sets - squatting and holding at different depths of the squat. I had to hold at lower positions. I thought my legs were going to just buckle. Some how I got through it.
- Ice to go
Hello Folks,
Today bright and early I headed to my first session of physical therapy in San Francisco. I was greeted by a young, but buff man who instructed me to fill out paperwork. I had to do it quick since the physio was anxious to get me started. The therapy area is upstairs. Stairs! My mortal enemy right now, but ya to get to my session I had to go up them. Anyways, I've heard a lot of good things about this place so I was eager to get started. I sat down on a table and my physio walked up. Really nice guy, not too hard on the eyes either. After feeling out my knee and doing a few tests he commented that it wasn't as bad as he would have thought. Yes my quad had atrophied a bit. :( Since I pride myself on having strong legs, but he reassured me that he'd get my strength back up by isolating all the leg muscles while not stressing out the knee. He sent me off to do the routine below with an aide. It was not that hard of a workout. I did not push myself too much since I do not really know the limits of my knee. All in all, I felt good afterwards and most of today. I was told no soccer of course and no walking outside of the norm, which is hard since I love to walk and it doesn't really hurt. It's up to me now to do my strengthening homework and give it all I have in my sessions. I still think surgery is inevitable due to the lose cartilage in my knee, but at least I will go into surgery with a strong leg and the proper training to start rehabbing right away. Hopefully I am one day closer to getting Back to Gooooooooool!
Routine:- 10 minutes on spinning bike
- 20 x 3 quad sets
- 15 x 3 quad sets with leg raises
- quad holds on shuttle x 3 sets - basically holding position with knee bent making your quad burn
- 20 x 3 heal raises
- 15 minutes of ice
I am starting a new blog. Why? Well I'm not much of a blogger for everyday life. FB and Twitter are good enough for that, but when I have a journey to go on whether physical or mental I like to record it. What is Back to Gol? It will be my journey back to the pitch.
The Acute Trauma:
On June 6, while playing in a women's soccer tournament I tweaked my knee. It was the last of 3 games of that day. I was marking the best forward on the other team. A through ball went flying up the right flank and she and I were in a blazing foot race. I'd been playing co-ed ball on turf for the last 2 years where no slide tackling was allowed, but something in me clicked and I slid and knocked the ball out of bounds. Unfortunately, I also took the player out and she and I tumbled. I came up with my knee clicking and hurting. As I usually do with midgame clashes, I just shook it off and kept playing. We ended up tying the game. Oh well. The next day with a sore knee I played a morning game. The knee was still hurting, but seemed to feel better when running. After that game things started to shut down. It became very stiff and painful. I was afraid to see the tournament physical trainer, but I felt I had to. He jerked and pulled to test out the ligaments. They were OK thankfully! He massaged the heck out of the IT band and sent me back out on the field. I played one more game. DUMB! That was the end of me. It was real apparent something was wrong because it was really swelling up.
The Diagnosis:
Today, about 1.5 weeks later I went for an MRI. The ortho dr. said my ligaments were good, but only an MRI would show if something else got damaged. I was hopeful, but at the same time I do not have a history of knee issues and when I do have a problem it has led to surgery. Right knee meniscectomy in November of 2006.
I got an MRI on my left knee. The machine was curious. It was just a hole big enough for my leg. I didn't have to be slid into a big tunnel like the past. About an hour after they did the MRI I was in the exam room with the doctor. He went over my films and well he saw some scar tissue from an irregular articular cartilage (the cartilage the covers your femur and tibia kinda like a car cover), but he said he's seen that before, not a big deal. He did see a little tear in my lateral meniscus. He did not opt for surgery right away and just said I should go to rehab and recommended one that's one of the best in the state. Athletes like Jerry Rice have gone there. I was like ok. I can do this. Like 3 weeks of rehab cool. As he filled out my prescription the phone rang and it was the radiologist with a report on my MRI.
Now you know it's not good when he has to get the films out and again and follow what the person is saying on the phone. That irregular looking cartilage he showed me turns out to be irregular because I chipped a piece of cartilage that was now free floating in my knee. Thus raising my chances of surgery. Lovely! I knew then that PT wasn't going to do it. I mean something floating in your knee is like a rock in your shoe. You never know when it's going to pop out and bug you, but it's there.
In conclusion, I am still headed to rehab. Mostly because I want the pain to go away and I have such a busy schedule that having surgery would not be good until mid-July. Maybe there is a chance my knee gets better with rehab. I mean it will no doubt, but will I be back to Gol..... that is left to be seen.
