Sunday, November 25, 2007

Knee How Mah?

Ok, this'll be a update about the knee injury. The when, and whats. A big big thanks to those of you who've shown your concern... I really appreciate it. It's like, it's my injury, either you don't even meet me, OR, you can't see the problem even when i'm around, but yet you still enquire about how i'm doing... So i'm touched. :-)

It started two days after my New Balance real run. I finished the run well, and i was perfectly fine after and during the race. Monday passed by uneventfully, and then on tuesday morning, all i did was squat, and that was when i felt the sharp pain around the knee cap and stood up immediately. I noticed a lump formation as well and i was pretty frightened because i've never felt anything like it before.

For days, i could not squat fully because it'd hurt. After 3 weeks, things got a lot better. It hurt less, but i still felt that the lump and pain, though it was minimal. I thought i was doing well, so i took a walk home with Jun one saturday night, and to my disappointment when i got home, the lump and pain flared up and squatting was painful again. The next day though, it was slightly better.

All of this was puzzling me, so... i finally got to see the doc.

According to the orthopedic doctor, he said:
"Nothing serious... Just some wear and tear in the knee joint, some arthritis here (taps the x-ray image)... Nothing serious. Your knee cap is rough from the wear and tear. So, when you overdo, the knee cap rubbed against a weak part of the knee and that area produced fluid, which is causing the swelling. So, every time you overuse the knee, it'll produce the fluid and therefore, the pain."

Suffice to say, my heart and spirit was crushed. It might not sound that serious, but to me, the implications were... So, does that mean that my running days are over? Does that mean that i'll always get this pain when i run? Since running uses the knee a lot.

It did not help that though he is sort of nice, he wasn't answering my questions properly when i proposed my concerns to him, and he didn't seem very sympathetic about how i obviously felt.

He recommended that i go for physiotherapy, which i did for the first time in my life on wednesday. I LOVED IT. Well, i got a therapist who educated me on the knee physiology and told me what exactly was going on. Apparently, this problem is a common one, seen mostly among school athletes and NS men.

I learnt about the position of the patella, the outer and inner thigh muscles and how my knee cap was moving sideways because my outer thigh muscles were stronger than the inner ones, therefore resulting in the misaligned movement. She also taught me some exercises to do on my own everyday. The inner thigh muscles need a good workout.

She gave me one good knee massage (wa seh, darn PAIN but darn SHIOK) and then hooked me up to two machines. The first one was an ultrasound machine that was suppose to help with the cell healing, and the second machine was to help reduce the swelling. All i had to do was lie still and enjoy the prodding and massaging. Hee.

It's much better these couple of days. I guess the physio session and exercises really do help. It's not completely well, but i'm just trusting for healing and recovery. In the meantime... I'm swimming. Haha, ok, so it's hard to keep me off my sports.

So yep, this is the whole story. Other than the fact that i've decided to go for the standard chartered half marathon. And... i'll be walkin'. Yeah baby, YEEHAH!

7 comments:

lychee said...

Hmm...Swimming is good, well, less friction in comparison to all sports. Good to hear it's better. Never heard ppl say physio shiok one...hehe..Well, enjoy physio, but take good care of the kness, ya?;)

Anonymous said...

lychee:

I'll be taking care of it! Been doing my exercises and all. I do wonder if the 21km walk will be good though. It means a few hours of walking...
Physio not shiok meh? Maybe they kena the chinese sinsei type.

Anonymous said...

walking is ok on ur knees? why dun u rest it ? better not to risk it wor.

Joline said...

anon:

the last time i walked a long distance, it had an impact and it hurt when i squat, although no pain is felt during just walking.

yes, i've been struggling with the thought that i might be injuring it more... but i think i'm being stubborn, i admit. parents said that if i feel any pain during my walk, i must stop. and i guess, i'll have to agree with them on this one.

Anonymous said...

but pain is a last stage of warning. when u squat and there is pain it already means it is injured wat. so if u walk until pain ,tats worse, it means it is more injured now.aiya dunno whether u get wat i mean? but u shud listen to ur body(or knees) and really rest it well. there is a chinese saying, resting is to walk a longer distance.

DaDeGea said...

psst.. dun u get it? jo's hoping it'll be pain =p then *ahem* will carry her thru the finish line ^_^ muahaha j/k.
your parents r right tho. dun take uncalculated risk. we both suck at stats, but i'm sure if u feel a tingling sensation bordering on pain, u'd better stop XP u dun need stats to calculate the risk involved =p

Anonymous said...

yeah man, tats it. take calculated risk, not uncalculated ones. tats wat my frend told me, calculated risk.