The people who say KNEE!

Those who follow my blog regularly may know that I managed to dink up my knee back in November. In short, after the Marine Corps Marathon I got into an overuse injury when I continued to train harder and harder in preparation for the Philly Half Marathon three weeks later. While I did well at that race – it came at a cost. The cost being Runners Knee, which is basically when you dink up your knee due to overuse. Until recently it’s kept me from running, not so much the pain – because it’s actually relatively minor – but more so the fear of causing further injury.

It has put a bit of a damper on the winter training schedule. But I’ve made the best of the situation my concentrating on my other spots – swimming and cycling.

In early January I went to see a sports doctor about the situation, as things weren’t getting better on their own – like the peeps on the Interwebs said they would. It turns out it (my knee) needed some assistance. He went into great depth on what I had done – which can be summed up in saying that it’s all the muscles around my knee that were actually weak, which in turn caused my knee to go on strike.

As a result of that appointment I got a slew of ‘homework’ that I have to do everyday to get my knee better. It’s been working fairly well actually. Within about three weeks I was back to the point where I had no pain. Of course, being the stubborn type-A that I am, I went out and did too much a few weekends ago, and probably regressed a week or two. But live and learn. At any rate, here’s what I get to do every day:

Ice Ice Baby!

I have to ice my knee three times a day. I don’t have to worry about getting it all spread out. He said if I came home from work and did it, then again a few hours later and again a few more hours later – it would work. But we’re not just talking an ice pack. Nope, we’re talking the pinnacle of technology: A Styrofoam cup. It turns out one of the best ways to ice an area like your knee is by freezing water in a Styrofoam cup, pealing back the cup and then just gliding it all over the place like a Body Glide. It does get a bit messy because the ice melts – but a towel takes care of that.

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Oh..and if you’re lazy like me sometimes the stash of leftover cups builds up.

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My Bouncing Balls

The next things I have to do is to bounce a racquet ball off a wall about 6-8 feet in front of me. On one leg, with one arm/hand…standing on a wobble board. I do this for five minutes per leg.

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Lifting Poundage

Then I have do what are essentially leg lifts. I sit/lie down with my legs out in front of me and then slowly lift up each leg 18-24″. And repeat 25 times. And then repeat each set three times (total of 75 times per leg). Over the course of 6 weeks I slowly go from no weight to 10 pounds of weight on each leg (using leg weights).

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A Tense Situation

Finally, I have to give my knee muscles a workout. I do this by again sitting with my legs out in front of me and then tense up my knee and hold for five seconds, and then release for one second. I repeat this 15 times, and then again each set three times.

Lots of fun…ehh?

My Meat

But what is fun is cooking on a BBQ smoker. Made a smoked beef tenderloin tonight stuffed with spinach and blue cheese (although it was a fairly tame blue cheese). Came out awesome.

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I’m in Seattle for a portion of the week, so I’m looking forward to a nice waterfront run tomorrow morning.

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10 Comments

  1. I’m supposed to do the ice cup too on my foot. “Supposed to” being the operative words. And I wonder why I haven’t gotten better! I’m actually impressed that you actually manage to do all the stuff you are supposed to. I never seem to be able to find the time to do the ten billion exercises I am supposed to do for my foot/hip/back/neck. Gees, I’m falling apart at 30.

  2. From your knee recovery to the beef tenderloin, it all sounds like things are moving in the right direction.

    Good job!

  3. Glad to see your knee is recovering well! Hope you have a nice run this morning in Seattle 🙂

  4. Mmmm…beef tenderloin…who cares about that knee anyways…

  5. ask your doc about water running or email me and i’ll give you the scoop. it’s another great knee rehab that you can just tack on to the end of your pool sessions.

    stop with the food pics unless you’re planning to come to all of our homes and cook for us. you must come to a convention in los angeles at some point, and when you do, you’re invited to my house to show my pots and pans what real cooking is. beef tenderloin stuffed with bleu cheese?? YUMMMMMMM!!!! after all, the broken down muscles need their protein!!!

  6. I have the same issue. Gah I hate it.

    I prefer paper cups over styrofoam.

    Love love love your post title! I love that movie.

  7. Nice Python refernce, c’mon mate it’s only a flesh wound!

    I bet your neighbors love you with the bouncy ball, very Steve McQueen, The Great Escape!

  8. It’s been said already – but yes, classic post title.

    Enjoy your ice.

  9. You have a good dr. Had to do similar exercises for an ankle a couple years ago.

    When you’re done with this phase, you should look into a weight training program to strengthen it.

  10. ano

    I know this was long ago but could you please tell the pace/method you came back to your regular trainings after the therapy ?
    I injured my knee (i.e. runner’s knee) last year, went to physical/magnet therapy to lessen the pain/recover and tried to come back from totally abstence of running to gradually increasing it. After 6 months later I still experience low to mild pain in that knee… Yes, I know everyone’s different and I probably went back too fast but please briefly share your story, if willing…

    Thanks