28 January 2014

Work it out - having a knee injury


As some of you might remember, I had a knee injury last summer and I still have a "broken knee", since I've decided not to go through with an op. The problem is that my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) is completely torn, as it turned out 6 weeks after the incident...

The doc couldn't identify the problem or if something was broken  - and he had about 10 minutes to do so when I visited - so I was instructed to seek out a physiotherapist "when things gotten better". The latter could tell me, within 10 seconds of examining the knee, that the ACL was torn completely.

Resulting in anxiety, wondering if I could ever do the things I loved again, I was presented with two options: do the op and not knowing if any complications arise, or not do the op and restrict what I can do with the knee; i.e. not be able to go skiing or playing soccer full speed. Not that I would do that anyway, so I've decided to opt for the less dramatic choice since my goals are:
  • Be able to lift weights at the gym
  • Be able to run (including long distances, intervals, terrain etc)

...And the progress?



 Well, I've reach some of them:

  • Lifting weights to ensure stability in the joint and build up for the loss of muscle mass
  • Being able to run  - at all - on treadmill
  • Being able to run 3 times a week - starting at 10 minutes
  • Being able to run (non stop) at least 45 minutes
  • Being able to run a mile (the metric system that is, for english it's about 6,2 miles)
  • Starting interval training 3-4 sets á 4 min at 85% of HRmax - did today...almost. =D



Left to be done:

  • Intervals 6-8 set as above and go through a test used by PT for soccer players
  • Terrain including long distance
  • See if the knee holds together...otherwise there will be an operation...

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