8 Months - 10 April 2010

So, the last month things have been busy. I started training with an American football team in Melbourne. I have been keeping up with all the others with no trouble on the knee. No problem with turning, cutting, squatting and running. I also trained two days with an aussie rules footy club and there no knee issues, I just struggled from a general fitness standpoint...

At home I have been doing lots of squatting (mainly to get me fit for a ski trip we are taking in August to New Zealand, with a day of Heli skiing on the cards!!!) Even still my quad is about 90% the size of the other one. I don't really know what to do to get that back to normal.

The physio recommended against playing netball. He said it isn't that the knee can't take it is just that it such a high risk sport and so many people get knee injuries that if I wanted to keep myself healthy for skiing that I shouldn't play it. I think i will take his advice and play gridiron instead.

I would say in hindsight I would have taken more time to do my exersises on a regular basis. Everyone gets busy with work and other things in their lives but I would have spent more time getting my knee ready with stretches, squats and all the other early on exersises the physio gave me I would definetely have been able to return to sports a few month earlier...

10 March, 2010 - 7 Months

Well, the last two months have gone very well. I have worked my way back into normal activity. The knee feels fine and doens't ever hurt. I still have full movement but it still does pop a bit but it doesn't worry me.

My quad is still about 85% the normal size, it seems to be just staying there. Most of the time I pretty much forget that I had knee surgery.

Five Months 10 January 2010

Things have really changed this month. I have gone for a few 3km runs not on the treadmill and the knee doesn’t feel any different than the other one. My left quad is about 85% the size of the right and everything feel great. I don’t really get the pain when twisting my knee any longer.

The popping is still happening but it doesn’t really bother me.

I saw the physio and he gave me some hopping, squatting and skipping exercises to do. He told me to do those for 2 weeks and then come back and see him for the agility exercises. I only got around to seeing him 1 week ago so hopefully next month I will be fully into the agility training.

I no longer feel like I have any injury. I am tempted to get back into the sports but I know that my knee is not quite there yet so I will follow the doctor’s orders and keep doing the exercises...

Four Months 10 December 2009

Over the last month the clicking in my knee continued but it got a bit easier to lock the knee fully. By the end of the month I was able to do the locking in a continuous motion but the popping occurred. I went for a 2km run in the real world (not on the treadmill) this month and it was OK. I find it much easier to run on the treadmill as there is less change in level of where your foot lands.

I saw the knee surgeon for my 4 monthly check-up. He said that the popping is normal and it is most likely scar tissue getting in the way. He said over time that should go away but it is possible that it won’t . However, he said as long as there is no pain related to the popping then there is no issue. As for the other pain when putting a change of direction pressure on my knee as I mentioned last month, the doctor said that was likely still bruising healing, maybe from the original injury. He said that would go away over the next few months.

The surgeon told me to go see the physio to get some agility training started.

Three Months 10 Novemberr 2009

Over the last month my knee has been feeling pretty good. The pulling inside my knee has gone away just near the end of the month. However, something different started happening, when extending / locking my knee fully I get to a point where it can’t go any further. Then, it pops and I can go further with the locking. Once I bend my knee it is like it resets and the same thing happens again. It doesn’t hurt when it pops, it just feels odd.

I don’t really have any pain in my knee except occasionally when I change directions quickly or put a twisting motion on the knee. Then I feel a sharp pain in there that doesn’t really hurt bad but I can still feel it.

My quads are starting to gain strength and I am feeling much more confident. Going for lots of runs but wishing I would have the time to work out more frequently but work has been blocking that.