A Bit of a Setback, But Moving Forward Again
One week ago, I woke up with increased pain on the medial side of my right knee. It was painful to walk. I took the next 2 days off from running and dropped the strength training and physical therapy exercises. I have been able to start running again, but I've had to slow my pace down significantly to keep the pain to a minimum. I've abandoned the idea (for now) of continuing hill work and/or starting some faster striders on the treadmill. I'll run every other day for a while and I'll try to keep it slow. I will reintroduce strength training as soon as tomorrow and then gradually add back in other exercises. I may ditch the indoor cycling for a while.
So...how did this happen? I really don't know. There was no obvious misstep that started the increase in pain. The day before I woke up with this pain I had a relatively easy day of exercise. No running. No strength training. I did some easy cycling, but maybe pushed it a shade harder than recent efforts. I did some physical therapy-type exercises including band work with my legs and some balance exercises. If I knew what caused the increased pain I would avoid it. (...but no such luck.)
I think the path forward as mentioned above is to slow down and gradually reintroduce exercises. It is hard for me at this point to imagine ever being able to run much further or much faster than my recent 5-mile runs at a modest pace. However, I expected there to be setbacks on the long road back. I will try to work around this setback and see where my patient approach takes me.
Hello - I came across your diary on kneeguru (my handle there is WillP) and found your website from there. As a fellow 50 something runner struggling with knee issues after surgery I just wanted to wish you the very best of luck and applaud your rehab efforts and determination to run again.
ReplyDeleteMy issues are very different and stem from an unnecessary knee surgery in 2005, but we share a passion for running and a desire to overcome the nightmare of knee problems. So all the very best and I will follow your blog.....
Thank you so much, Will! I wish the very same for you. I've dipped my toe into the waters of cycling and other things...but I'm a runner. I want to run and am willing to take on risk to get back there. It is nice to know there are some like you who understand that (and not yell at me to give it up and rest or do something else).
ReplyDeleteThe most maddening thing about trying to overcome knee issues is that there really is no consensus on how to go about it. Surgeries work for some...but not others. For some, surgery makes things much worse. (Sounds like this happened to you.) During rehab/PT, some in the field recommend an aggressive approach (which clearly works for some, but makes things worse for others) and others a very conservative approach (which, again, clearly works for some, but not for others). If only there was a roadmap or protocol to follow to restore function...I would follow it. Even if it was very difficult. I would do the work. Instead I wonder every day if I should rest...or run and/or do hard exercise to complete muscular failure...or do something else in between (or different entirely). I'll just keep making these choices with the limited data I have and see where I am able to go.