Old Injury Re-injured

March first came around and I thought, it would be a great day to run outside. So, I did. I was so blissful to run outside in the sunshine and trees. Unfortunately, I did not adhere to the first rule of exercise: warm-up. Instead, I jogged a few laps back and fourth along the dirt trail. Then I decided to sprint. I ran as FAST as I could. Nearing the end of the trail, I slowed down. My muscles relaxing and then I heard a POP in my left knee. I remember thinking, "that's not good', as I took a tumble. So, I sat there for about a minute to recover cradling my freshly injured knee. Then I hobbled into the house to rest and recover.

March 1, 2010: At first the injury was not that severe, but I knew in about 10 or 12 hours, my leg would be stiff. I could not lift my leg under its own power.

2000 hours: That night it was stiff. So, if you have ever seen a zombie movie featuring the slow moving zombies, that would be me.

March 2, 2010: In the morning, my leg was better. It was not as stiff, but it just takes longer to move. I can lift my leg under its own power, but it is slow. On the standard doctor Pain Scale of mild, moderate, to severe: it is mild.

And that is all I documented. But for the first week or so, I could straighten my knee just fine but I could bend it to about 30 degrees before it would hurt. During my research on knee injuries, medical sites said the same thing: 30 degrees. This type of injury is a medial collateral ligament (MCL) sprain. The MCL is the ligament is on the outer side of the knee. And yep, that is where it hurt. Which meant I couldn't squat.

I did leg stretches everyday twice a day for about two weeks. After that I began to ride the stationary bike to help build my muscles back up. April is now here and I am doing more leg muscle strengthening exercises.


Now if you have paid attention to the title, it says "Old Injury Re-Injured". So that means I have injured it before. I think. Right. Anyway, the first time I injured my knee was in 2006 in Taekwondo class. I did some fancy spin kick, landed improperly, my knee bared all my weight, and I heard a pop. The pop did not hurt but the after effect sure did. It was fine for 20 minutes; which was enough time to get me home. It was a good thing, because my leg became stiff by the time I got home and I was driving my Dad's truck which was a clutch.

So, with my first injury, my knee was weak. I could not stand on it nor could I straighten it. I could bend it just fine. But I had to walk (hobble) across campus the very next day with a heavy book bag filled with, oh you guessed it, bricks. I mean books. I ended up going to physical therapy for about 3 weeks. I did stretches and strength exercises.

This time though, with my second injury, I injured it when I was slowing down from running. I read some medical sites that said MCL injuries can occur while slowing down from running. As for why, I did not research that. One thing I can guess is that the muscle around my knee wasn't as strong as they use to be, I didn't stretch, and I wasn't accustomed to sprinting. This time, I could straighten my knee, I could bear my weight on it, but I couldn't bend it past 30 degrees, and it bothered me if I wasn't constantly moving my knee around. So, it was difficult to sleep for the first week or so.

My cousin said that the body can adapt to many things. Perhaps my body repaired itself in a way that it would prepare for a 2nd injury. Who knows. But I've recovered and I will keep it in shape, but it will never be 100% again. .. until I get a T-800 endoskeleton that is (Terminator reference).


But I made pretty good time during my sprint.