Friday, October 31, 2008

going crazy

My knee hasn't been doing too well lately. I've been going to see Dr. Jeremy Rodgers of the Colorado Chiropractic institute for a little over a month now and I'm not sure what to report. The patella tendinitis isn't as bad (pain) as it was before, but as a result of the exercises my knee is pretty sloppy now.





Initially, Dr. Rodgers told me to take off 3 weeks of running while we strengthened some supporting muscles since I've been running over my 5th toe on my right foot and he wanted to get some abductor muscles stronger to pull my knee inwards a little to have my knee over my second toe when I started running.
The exercises combined with some taping has made my patella pretty unstable. It's not staying put at all. When I walk up or down stairs (i live in a 2 story home with a basement) it pops with every step because it's tracking mostly to the left of the groove it SHOULD be in. It's not like a knuckle popping that's loud, it's more like the sound of a dislocated bone sliding back into place with every step. This in itself doesn't hurt, but it leads to more inflammation and subsequent swelling.
He's sending me over to an Orthopedic that he works wtih for some Cortisone shots to try to get the swelling under control and if that doesn't help get us back on track with his program, then he's going to recommend 2 different surgeries. :-(
We've been trying to avoid surgery at all costs, but it's possible that there's just too much damage to allow the body to heal itself or compensate effectively. We'll see. I'm not going to put it off any longer once they say that's what they want to do. I'm going to get everything done at once and hopefully, be back on my feet healthy and training again next year.
This is very frustrating for me because running and biking are my stress relievers. I live in Colorado where it is beautiful, I have so many wonderful trails close by to explore and it's FALL! The best time of year for running and I can't enjoy it. I've had a few dreams lately about running and they've all been bouldering downhill after running some smooth single track with leaves crunching under my feet. Those dreams have been torturing me. I can't even bike anymore after last Sunday because of the instability and the swelling and pain afterwards.














So now I'm home icing it 2 to 3 times per day and will be getting the cortisone shots soon and then we'll see if it improves enough to resume the therapy program.
Maybe I'll at least get to get in some skiing this season. Since I don't' do moguls or jumps, skiing shouldn't be too hard on it. Just the easy stuff. Groomed or powder on smooth rolling terrain. If I can't even do that, I might just have to stop into a pawn shop for a good deal on a full auto cause I'm going to go postal!

4 comments:

Mark Studnicki said...

Knee problems, and you want to go SKIING? I'm sure skiing wrecked mine, but maybe mine were already shot.

dirtdobber said...

"Initially, Dr. Rodgers told me to take off 3 weeks of running"

And what did Dr. Locke tell you? Take the entire winter off from running, do some leg extensions and my secret back routine w/stretching. REST my friend, FALL will come again next year.....

Mark Studnicki said...

Just keep riding and running. If it hurts, call Obama. He'll fix it. He's going to fix everything! Right?

Anonymous said...

You might want to get that auto soon,cuz from what I hear, they're flying off the shelves since the election. :o) Hope the steroid shots help.--Abby