Sometimes the Road to Recovery has Construction along the Way

(Luckily I was still able to do some hunting in MT despite my surgery)

                Three weeks ago I was starting to feel strong, I was slowly getting back to increasing my mileage, my strength training was going well, and then I had knee surgery.  I am now back to rehab and will slowly work my way back up to running.

                You may be wondering why I had surgery. It was not the result of a traumatic injury as you might think but rather I chose to have the surgery to try and fix an ongoing problem in my left knee. Over 2.5 years ago I remember having some knee pain during the outdoor track season. I chalked it up to being due to the steeplechase as that event will beat anyone up and figured I would rest after the season. I rested, iced, and took care of the area but the nagging pain was there. I could run through it so I did. I had other seasons to get ready for and with each passing year the pain remained. I did not just sit idly by and agree to be in pain. I tried everything I could to help alleviate the problem. I went to physical therapy at the Sports Reaction Center, I rested (even when I tore my MCL on my right leg all that time off could heal the MCL but not what was ailing my left knee), I iced, I cross trained, I strength trained, I did massage, I foam rolled. Then I started going to Doctors.

                One Doctor told me it could be chondromalacia, another said he thought I was suffering from Plica syndrome after doing an ultrasound. Both Doctors reassured me I was not doing any bone damage by continuing to run. This was reassuring to me because I do not want to have major problems when I am older. The last Doctor I saw who did the ultrasound, told me I could try cortisone injections to help alleviate the swelling in the Plica but he really did not recommend it at my age in the knee joint. It could be risky so I figured I would just deal with the pain. This was last October. Then I became pregnant and I figured the time off from racing would help my knee heal. But the pain remained. So two months after Lilyana was born when I was just starting to feel strong again I decided to seriously pursue my options of fixing my knee. I had talked to my dad and found out he had surgery years ago to remove his Plica as his was overgrown. He had been dealing with the pain for three years and it was very similar to mine. It can be genetic so I figured it was very probable that I had the same issue. It was time to find out.

                My physician referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. Within a week period I had an appointment with him, some x-rays, an MRI and then a lateral release on my left knee. After the MRI and during the procedure he told me it was not the Plica. For some reason the ligament (lateral retinacular) on the left side of my leg was overgrown, thick, and very tight. It had gotten to the point of “no return.” No matter how much stretching, massage, and foam rolling I did it was not going to get better without surgery.

(2 weeks post op)

On October 31^st I had a lateral retinacular release.  The first three days were rough, especially trying to care for a baby but it really wasn’t that painful as I opted not to take any pain medicines due to having to feed Lilyana. They did a spinal during my surgery so I was able to watch the whole thing. It was kind of cool to just walk into the operating room. I have never done that before. The one other time I have been in an O.R. I was completely out.

                The healing time for this surgery is about twice as long as for a Plica extraction. The estimate is 12 weeks. However I feel optimistic based on how I am already healing. At my one week post-op visit my surgeon even said he felt that I would heal quickly as I was already ahead of most people at this point with what I could do. My strength training began with quad sets (contracting the quad muscle for 10 seconds, resting and repeating), leg lifts 4-6” off the ground, and other very basic exercises. Just over two weeks out and I am pedaling a spin bike, doing wall squats, walking, and have just incorporated in single leg squats (with one leg back on a chair). Granted this is all very basic, I am not really getting in any cardio but I am very optimistic that I will heal quickly but I am willing to be patient.  

                Some people may think the timing of this was unfortunate but I would disagree. Doing it years ago would seem logical but at the time I wanted to exhaust all other options before surgery. I wouldn’t have wanted to do it while pregnant or right after birth as I needed to give my body time to heal from that. I wasn’t exactly back in top shape so I really am only extending my comeback from pregnancy. For me, the timing couldn’t be more perfect to finally being pain free.

(On the "comeback machine." This bike helped my friend and sister-in-law Jane make a comeback after a mountaineering accident in July of 2012).