In my first post of this series, I mentioned having surgery
for torn cartilage in my right knee. I did not say that I have been waiting for
the other shoe to drop. Many years ago I injured both knees (not running), and in min-November I pushed the left one
over the edge. I put it in an awkward position while caving and experienced a
rather sharp and sudden pain in the right rear quadrant (of my left knee) –
pretty much exactly the same as my previous right knee meniscus tear, but not
as bad.
After that, my mobility was seriously compromised. I could
run uphill, but walking downstairs was a delicate operation. Any movement that
involved flexing my left knee past about 45 degrees hurt. Walking fast on flat
ground hurt unless I carefully shortened my stride and stepped delicately …
like an old man walking across broken glass on bare feet.
This might have been the end of my Mt Mitchell ambitions
this year, but I did not give up entirely. While slowly working my way through
the tedium of referrals, MRI’s, and diagnosis, I essentially shifted all my
training to an inclined treadmill or stair machine.
The orthopaedist finally confirmed the medial meniscus tear
and was able to schedule me for arthroscopic surgery on 24 Dec 2015. That’s
right: X-mas eve, but the alternative was to wait until sometime in January.
This way I figured I would have time to assess my recovery before the 15 Jan
bail-out date for the Mt Mitchell Challenge.
Long story short: It is 19 January, I have not withdrawn
from the race, and I am back to training like a beast (a middle-aged beast with
a delicate knee, but still …). Here are the key ingredients to my recovery so
far:
1 1) Heed the medical advice: If it hurts, don’t do
it.
2 2) Conversely, if it doesn’t hurt, go for it! After
surgeries like this, the key priorities are to regain strength and mobility as
fast as possible. They don’t encourage patients to sit around and become stiff
and atrophied. For me, this meant spending a lot of time on a treadmill ranging
from 5% to 25% slope. I have logged a lot of elevation gain!
3) Be a good physical therapy patient. I have been
diligent with a few simple strengthening and mobility exercises to recover
symmetry between my left and right sides. Officially, athletes are usually
released to “return to sport” when the affected side has 90-95% of the function
of the unaffected side. “Function” includes isometric strength and various
single-legged stepping, balancing, and hopping tests. “Return to sport” usually
means basketball, soccer, etc. For me it means bombing down technical trails.
Athletes are encouraged to return to normal running as soon as they can do it
pain free. That’s where I am right now: steep downhills are still a bit
uncomfortable, but I’m pretty close on single-leg agility.
