My knees been bothering me since my last post , I think it was the yoga class I attended, she seemed determined in this class, to conform my crooked legs into yoga-riffic poses. Poor genetics will almost always win. I also think just before that class, I slipped a little on some sleet, which may have tweeked it. Afterwards, I tried to switch to pool running a little more and that seemed to help. I thought it was fixed...
So I went to tempo two Fridays ago to test it out. It felt pretty good the first few laps and then started to not feel good. A few steps later I heard a large CRACK, screamed, but somehow managed not to fall or trip any of my teammates as I limped off the track. I somehow lucked out with no bruising or swelling and in some ways, my knee actually felt better than it had since last fall when it was bothering me, but I couldn't put weight on it without limping and climbing up stairs was a one at a time thing.
Knee with Osteoarthritis
I was sure I was headed for the scapel and saw the Ortho a week ago Wed. He said the CRACK appeared to be arthritis related, as the X-Rays show no structural damage. He diagnosed it as an acute arthritic flare-up (he also reinforced some 25+ years of bad news, gave me some new "down the road" ideas to keep staving off the eventual knee replacement (science does keep progressing) and the advice of maintaining the previous plan of action once this flare-up calms down). Finally after a week of non-activity, I've been able to introduce pool running back into my life and it does seem as though it's getting better. It's still not perfect, definitely not run-able and I've shelved any plans of PR's and races for this season. Yes, I have the knees of an 80 year old - I think I'm aging well, when I was 15 my knee surgeon said I had the knees of a 70 year old.
I do hope to be able to run in a few weeks, but it will take some courage, because that CRACK hurt. A lot. If that's just the osteoarthritis and that pain may occur at any old time, it does give me some pause.
We'll just have to see what happens. On the other end of the spectrum, I hate you all - you are all kicking ass and are going to rock your races. I'm seriously jealous of you all, but I'm going to feel better just by cheering you on and if I can, taking some kick-ass race pictures of you all.
Now, not just cross training, the only training. Thank goodness I got a nano for Xmas!
