And the verdict is...

by - Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Physical Therapy...two to three times a week for the next four weeks.

How much does that suck?

But anyway let's back up for a minute so I can give you a run down of what happened at the doctor yesterday.

I have never had such great service at a doctor's office as I did at this place. They are a huge orthopedic and spine specialist operation that specializes in sports medicine, which is awesome.

I got in, did the paper work and then explained what happened to the nurse.

About two minutes later I was off getting X-rays taken. Then I was taken back to the room and the X-rays popped up on the computer screen there.

No more than five minutes later the doctor came in, introduced himself and I told him what was going on. He took a look at the X-rays, which he said looked great. So no problems with the bone. Whooo hoo! He also said my knees sit better in the knee socket than most females, which was good news for sure.

Then he had me lay down on the table and he moved my leg in a bunch of different directions and measured different angles and stuff. From there he determined that I have no problems with my ligaments or cartilage (also good news).

What he thinks happened is that my "knee cap tried to jump the track." What I got from that is that it tried to slide out of it's normal position so the tendons had to strain really super hard to hold it in place.

And the reason the tendons had to strain so hard is because they are attached to the quad, which because I don't lift with the lower body, after repeated beating from running was not strong enough to stabilize the tendons to help hold the knee cap in place. Soooo the tendons got majorly stressed.

(In my and many other runners' defenses, getting in the miles has always been more important and I was always afraid that my legs would be too sore after lifting that I wouldn't be able to get in a good run the next day.)

Physical therapy is going to help strengthen the quad muscles, it will help me run with good alignment to make sure the knee doesn't try to jump the track again and the therapist will teach me a certain method of taping the knee to help provide additional stabilization until the tendons have calmed down and the quads get stronger.

I start therapy Monday night.

As far as what I can do right now, the doc said anything that doesn't hurt it. That leaves me with swimming and yoga, which he highly encouraged.

He said the Rock N' Roll half isn't out of the picture yet. It will just depend how well I do with the therapy.

Seriously though he was an awesome doctor. He spent the time to sit down with me and explain to me exactly what the problem was and what we should do to fix it. When I asked him if I had to stop all activity he said the last thing he wanted to do was make an active person inactive. He also took the time to answer all of my questions and address any of my concerns. I got pretty lucky with that I think.

So yes, not being able to run sucks. Physical therapy is probably going to suck, but maybe I'll pick up some new things and hopefully I'll be back on the road to running again soon. I'll make sure to keep you posted.

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13 comments

  1. Glad to hear you figured out what the "problem" was! on the road to recovery! :)

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  2. Was he hot on top of that? Because that would've made him even more awesome! LOL

    I'm glad you got some answers chica! Here's to a speedy recovery!

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  3. I have the same issues. I have to always keep in mind that I need to strengthen my inner quads and stretch my outer quads. If your PT is like mine it will show you how to do that the best!
    Glad you had a good doc...that makes ALL the difference!
    Take Care

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  4. Well it's good to finally know what's up. And who knows you could have some total hottie in PT and not want it to ever be over!

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  5. At least you have a diagnosis and a recovery plan now. That should be a major relief. Glad you have an understanding doc. My doc doesn't get the whole "running" thing and basically just advises me to stop every time I go in. Yes, he's a bit of an a-hole.

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  6. Glad the R'n'R picture hasn't changed! I just got done with therapy on my ankle and I think it made all the difference, to know what is wrong and how to isolate the problem and make it better. Good luck!

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  7. Knowing is most of the battle! You start working hard on getting 100%, ya hear?

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  8. Looks like you left the office with a good plan. whew, not too bad the therapy will make you stronger and RNR not out of the picture. All good!

    I hope that therapy brings you back stronger!!

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  9. PT is good! I am glad that nothing's broken/

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  10. Phew! At least it isn't anything permanent! It'll all be better soon.

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  11. I've always liked physical therapy.

    I'm benched for a few weeks too. Lots of pool time!!

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  12. PT is not so bad, and it could be a lot worse.

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  13. I'm so glad that there wasn't anything "major" wrong. Yes, the PT is going to be a pain (I tore my shoulder 2 years ago and was in PT 4 days/week for 4 weeks, 3 days/week for 3 weeks, 2 days/week for 4 weeks....basically I should have been dating my phys.therapist!!), but you'll be some much better off after it! Good luck with everything!

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