MRI and the knee...

I have captured a couple of pictures of my knee's MRI.  Though nothing is torn or ruptured, there is damage.  I am basically dealing with tendinitis (perhaps becoming more tendinosis) of the biceps femoris tendon (BFT) (see image below).

From http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/

Rehabilitation will involve analgesics (pain management), static and dynamic stretching, and eccentric exercises.  I had to research the term "eccentric exercises", and specifically how it applies to the hamstring muscle complex (HMC).

Here are the MRI images, with the area of the BFT highlighted in the green box.  You can only tell it is intact (good news), and therefore my pain is from tendinitis and not a torn BFT.  The first image is more toward the front of the knee than the image which follows it:

Knee is improving...

I finally found a way to get my knee to feel better. What it needed was the extended rest.  The way of achieving that extended rest is shown in the picture below:

During the last day of Memorial Day weekend, I was trying to get our wood together from a fallen tree for a bonfire.  I had to flip a rather large log so that I could attach to my utility all-terrain vehicle and pull it to the bonfire.  I had managed to get the log to about 80% of its upright position when it slipped back on me (ground was soft and bark slipped under my hand).  My natural reaction was to try to catch it, and in doing so I ruptured my distal biceps tendon.  The picture above shows my arm week after surgery.  I will spend the next five weeks working on range of motion without lifting anything.  After that, I'll begin the long road back of restoring strength to the arm and tendon. All of this means that I will be able to do very, very little between now and then. Even so, the quiet time that I have been forced to take has worked wonders for my knee. The pain is now isolated to the biceps tendon connecting the hamstring to the knee. I'm using natural analgesics and rest to help that tendon recover.

Despite continual setbacks, there remains much beauty in the world to fuel the desire to push on...

It ain't happening...

...I am still not running.  The tendons behind the knee continue to debilitate me.  I have really taken it easy the last three days, and it feels better, which means there awaits a big chore to complete.  In this case, that chore is moving the remaining heavy cuttings and trunk from a 90 year-old pine tree to our burn site.  I dread it, because I know the strain will agitate my knee again and I will be in pain for a few days, hurting everytime I change positions either sitting or laying.

I am weary of this cycle, and have come to accept the notion that something is torn back there, and it needs medical attention.  I have an appointment with my GP, and he will give me the referral  I need to get a specialist to look at it (such is the way of insurance companies).  I had hoped to rehab this thing by this time, and everytime I get to the point like I am now, when the pain is there, but very manageable, doing anything strenuous -- even mowing the grass -- sends me into a relapse spiral.  I need a more informed course of therapy; I need to know with what I am actually dealing.  If I have to take a month off of any activity, so be it; I have already endured these pain cycles for six months.  If surgery is required then let's get it on and move toward rehabilitation.

I ache...to run again; I do miss it so.

About the time you feel you are ready to go again...

...something happens to remind you that you are not quite ready.

Yes, it has been awhile since I posted.  I have been busy being my own one-man  landscaping squad.  It is a good physical test, actually.  I spend a few hours each day (according to my Vivofit2, I also traverse between four and six miles a day) "working" this new lawn and the property in general.  I cut down trees with a chainsaw, cut them into 2-3-foot logs, and haul their debris to our burn area (we live in the country, and we have to burn such debris, as no sanitation service will take the green garbage one can gather out here), I cut down smaller trees and brush with my machete, and occasionally an axe, and then pull them out as though I was playing "tug-o-war" with the brush in which they are entangled.  I mow about 10,000 square feet (~1000 square meters) of lawn with a reel push mower, and rake rocks out of the turf areas with a three-foot (0.9m) landscaper's rake.  I walk up and down steep (up to ~30 degrees) inclines and other uneven terrain.  In short, the outside work at our property is quite the workout, and a good test as to the healing of the right posterior knee.

During one of my breaks yesterday, I was playing a little "one-on-none" basketball.  The basketball goal faces our motor-court area, and the lawn slopes away from the motor-court immediately.  "Air balls" mean you chase the ball into the woods.  Other missed shots might catch the edge of the motor-court and be launched down the slope and into the woods.  Hustling after missed shots can save you a trip to the woods.  As I have not shot basketball with any kind of regularity for 20 years or more, I am trying to get my shot back (muscle memory has long-forgotten), and I enjoy it as an active break.  My "game" is to shoot from wherever I recover the ball from a missed shot.  If I make the shot, I then go and make a free throw and a lay-up.  The lay-up must be made from the side from which the ball is retrieved after the free throw.  Missing any of the two latter shots nullifies the made field goal.  I play to five, with each circuit of a made field goal, free throw, and lay-up counting as one.  Nowadays, it takes a long time to get to five, so I only play to three.  

The right posterior knee was feeling pretty good as I hustled about to retrieve the basketball at a more favorable distance from the goal (it is hard enough to hit ten-foot shots, much less letting the ball bounce 20 feet away from the basket).  I was thinking, "Wow, things feel pretty good, I can start running this weekend."  I go to bed last night, suitably tired after a very active day,  A few hours into my sleep, I need to roll over and sleep on the other side.  The right posterior knee protested greatly!  It was as if I had re-injured it.  I knew I had not sustained a re-injury, but I had certainly aggravated the injured area.  I took my cinnamon-ginger-turmeric tea the first thing this morning.

It was a reminder that I am not yet 100%.  Walking is OK, but the added load experienced by mildly hustling to grab a basketball (no jumping required, just faster movement than walking) for a few minutes was a little too much.  My knee will get better, and is getting better, and this unintentional "test" was a good indicator of my progress to date.  I am not ready yet for running, but I can keep moving.

Friday update

Well, it is Friday, and we have survived the "gully-washer" rains of this week (~seven inches, 18 cm).  The nice thing about the rains is that it keeps me off the steeper slopes, away from bad footing, and away from lifting awkwardly-shaped objects -- all being the challenges of living on a new property which one has carved out of the woods.

The last couple of weeks has been about convalescing an injured knee (which has been giving me problems for four months) and ridding my body of nagging and sometimes debilitating aches.  I used PRICE for the knee last week, and I was able to restore mobility with only discomfort remaining (as opposed to pain that makes one gasp).  This week I used a tea twice a day of ginger, cinnamon, and turmeric (with a dash of black pepper to help the body absorb the turmeric much quicker) to address the body aches (again, suffering from those for many more months than the knee).  The body aches are gone, completely gone.  For the first time in months I can move about, get up and down, do whatever I want without feeling like I am shredding a muscle or ten.  The tea was AMAZING, and I made it from the spices in our spice rack; no special purchases required.

Two days ago, my left eye felt irritated (I wear contacts).  I removed my contacts, but it only seemed to get worse.  Yesterday, it was so light sensitivity that daylight on a rainy day (which it was) felt like someone was shining a halogen sealed-beam light into it -- it really hurt!  I went to a couple of medical sites to find the best therapy based on my symptoms, and the consensus called for warm compresses.  The warm compresses helped in providing comfort, but little progress (comfort is a good thing, though) in healing.  I was so pre-occupied with finding some degree of comfort that I had neither coffee (I hand-grind the beans fresh every morning using a 1930s PeDe #3 grinder, and make the coffee in a French Press) nor my spice tea.  The eye was a little better by evening, and I decided to make my tea just to complete the body therapy regime I began on Monday.  Within an hour, my inflamed eye and eyelid felt much better; so much so that even the tearing had stopped.  I went to bed with my left eye feeling 95% normal.  It is not ready for contacts, mind you, but it was an unexpected outcome.  I will continue the spice tea therapy today knowing it also benefits my eye.

I will be stepping away from the spice tea therapy come Monday ("...it'll be alright..." -- Jimmy Buffett) just to see if it something I need to take every day, or just when the need arises.  There are no side-affects for every day use, just the cost of consuming spices (which is not cheap, but at least they are dual-purpose: flavoring and medicinal, unlike drugs I might buy otherwise).  Today, I will be lifting and moving 500-600 pounds (230-270 kg) of landscaping flagstone.  I will be using a brace on the still-injured knee (the 'P' in PRICE).  If I am at roughly at the same point in the healing process as I am right now as I type this, I will also begin light workouts on Monday.

I wish you and your loved ones a great weekend.  Take care.

Doing more...

Yes, I am north of 55 in age, but I also know what feeling 'normal' is for me.  As I mentioned earlier, I have been going through a series of 'body issues" for quite some time, years, if measured properly.  Little by little I have conquered or managed some, but others linger on.  Getting out of a chair and feeling every fiber in my legs scream out (alright, almost every fiber) is not normal for me -- ever.  Sure, I expect that injured tendon in the back of the knee to squawk every now and again -- that would be normal.  But the rest?  No, no way.

I am 'doing more' about it.  I stay hydrated, which is good, but clearly not enough.  Fortunately, my older daughter is into the oils and herbs thing (with which I agree; God created us, and created a natural pharmacy for us to use).  I did my own research on various spices and herbs which promote healing (after all, isn't that what the spice trade was all about: medicine?  Who would go half-way around the world to make their rice turn yellow or their toast taste more fun in the morning?  The spice trade was not about making food taste more interesting, it was about acquiring medicinal agents).  Interesting enough, on my day-trek in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, my Berber guide (who lived in a town nearby and dressed the same as you and I) pointed out various flora as we walked, many of which were used to make teas to heal various ailments, and they had aloe growing in the wild as well.  Too bad they didn't have a government which would swoop-in and outlaw the use of such wild and uncontrolled plants, and regulate who could and could not grow the herbs and manner in which they could be grown, all for the protection of the people, of course (#sarcasm).

Anyway, I digress.  I researched looking at holistic websites, which tend to be over the top, and WebMD, which seemed to be boringly factual in outlining the claims and whether or not there was research to support the claims.  I researched with respect to the needs of athletes, or at least athletic people in their training.  I found three spices which I had in my counter which would helpful, and supported by both the enthusiasts' sites and WebMD: cinnamon, ginger, turmeric.  Turmeric is a quite strong anti-inflammatory, as effective as ibuprofen, according to WebMD.  I made a tea of 1/4 teaspoon each of of the spices, which I stirred constantly while drinking.   It was quite flavorful.  I had a cup of the tea in the morning, and one before bedtime.  The body feels better today, but I confess, it might be a placebo effect.  I will continue the regime for the rest of the week to see if it is the 'real deal'.  I am anxious to get these nagging pains out of the way so that I do not feel so crippled; my energy and my motivations being zapped by dealing with the pains.  None of the above spices have any side effects of note for me (unlike commercials advertizing medications which speed-talk through a myriad of sometimes horrifying side effects of their products), so I really have nothing to lose but the pains.  

I'll keep you posted (was a pun intended?).

The challenge of feeling better, but knowing you are not healed

I have five acres, heavily wooded.  We built our dream house on it, more forward in the property plat.  We have identified over a dozen varieties of trees, half of which are different oaks.  Our woods are thick, yet I want us to use all the property without compromising habitats for the deer, rabbits, raccoons, and other creatures of the forest which pass through our land.

I know, funny intro to a running post.  I introduce this post with the above because it is plain that injuries affect more than running.  I love the idea of creating trails in our woods, creating sitting areas with minimal impact, in short, creating a minimalist park in our woods to be enjoyed by all who visit and the creatures who have used it.  I cannot do any of that now because the injury still nags at me.

I have regained full mobility in lifting the heel, with only the smallest amount of discomfort (still not normal).  Lifting my knee, on the other hand, cannot be done without pain, but at least it is not a sharp pain.  Walking about the house or the flatwork outside can be done without noticing any pain or discomfort.  Going beyond that, hitting the slopes on the property or walking uneven terrain, and yes, the knee region starts talking.

Yesterday I engaged in two activities: sowing native grasses on the slopes around the house and attending the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo (HLS&R).  Sowing the buffalo, little bluestem, and blue grama grasses involved walking up and down steep slopes, and often encountering soft soils (I sunk in the mud a little ways at times).  The HLS&R involved walking stadium ramps and climbing stadium stairs.  The knee told me all about it, lecturing most of the drive home, and nagged me as I got out of the car.  It has been a bit agitated this morning.

Most of the time, I do not notice that I am still injured, and my mind starts planning to get back to training, to get back to tending the woods.  I am not healed yet, and that is frustrating.  Sure, I could go ahead and push these things now, but then I will be constantly stopping to recover, and eventually and likely, cause greater injury.  The challenge of feeling better, but still being limited, forces patience, demands your intellect continually persuade the rest of one's mind and body what it does not wish to hear: You are healing, don't ruin it, don't make it worse, take only what the body will give you without injury-related pain -- healing takes T-I-M-E.