The Longest Ride

Just wanted to pop in and let you guys know how I’m doing physically these days, esp since my post yesterday did not do my bike ride justice!!

So on Sunday, I rode my bike for over 45 minutes without any issues. I still have a small baseline knee pain but it didn’t stop me from riding. And more importantly, riding didn’t exacerbate the issue.

Sometimes when I talk to people about what I’ve been through with my knee, I feel like they don’t understand the mental aspect of dealing with an injury. Maybe someone here understands what it’s like to be really active and then all of the sudden you can’t do the things you love, you’re always in pain, and it’s all completely out of your control. It’s so frustrating. I know it sounds dramatic but there have been nights where I cried myself to sleep wondering if I would ever be able to do simple things again like walking up stairs, let alone run or cycle. So to be back on my bike this weekend…. there really are no words to truly describe how that felt.

Knee Update

Needless to say, things with my knee are going better. I’m still having that baseline pain but I have gradually been able to increase my activity and tolerate different types of exercises. My PT and I decided that 7 sessions of dry needling has brought me to a great place physically, and from here I’m going to focus on strength-training and continued increases in exercise. Dry needling had become somewhat of a slow form of torture for me so I’m not sad to see that go

 

I’m still really focused on my rehab regimen of PT exercises and icing. Everyday I do my same basic strength-training exercises: leg lifts, hip flexor stretches, wall sits, partial lunges, hamstring stretches and IT band stretches.  I’m rotating walking, swimming and cycling into my physical activity when I feel good but am careful not to push it. 

Hip

I wish this post was all good news but a few new issues have popped up as I’ve increased my activity. About 2 weeks ago, I started feeling a soreness in my left hip (my knee surgery was in my left knee). IT band pain is not uncommon for me so initially I thought that’s what it was. But then I realized it was deeper in my hip and it has started keeping me up at night. My PT took a look at it on Friday and I think I might have bursitis. Womp womp.

I have pretty much not been doing anything to address this prior to Friday, but now I’m an icing/stretching/anti-inflammatory/foam rolling regimen. I’m doing that for the next week before I decide whether or not to get it looked at. I’m hoping it will not come to that because I’ve already seen somewhat of an improvement just from over the weekend.

I got this foam roller from off of amazon. I’m going to have to Youtube some videos because I feel like I’m not doing it right, lol.

Foot

Last weekend I went hiking and tweeked my foot on a trail through a rock quarry.

I felt it when I did it and it has been sore ever since. My PT looked at it on Friday (I hope I’m paying this guy enough) and it looks a problem in my plantar fascia. Not too serious but a bit concerning because it’s in my “good leg” and I don’t want it to turn into a bigger issue. P.S. How sad it is that I have a good leg and a bad leg?

I made a little ice pack out of a bottle filled with water and alcohol and have been rolling my foot on that. Aside from being cold from all of this icing, I’m hopeful that this small issue will clear up soon.

Looking Up

I think my hip and foot are just things you deal with when you’re active and will hopefully resolve with the proper care and rest. Despite the new issues that have arisen, I feel like things are looking up. 

I have spent the greater part of a year focused on things that I could not do, but I’ve found recently that it’s so much more liberating to celebrate the little milestones of things I now *can* do; sometimes my ‘workouts’ do not even skim the surface of what I used to  be able do, but I have tried to remember where I was a few months ago and how far I’ve come since then

I know I say this every time but thanks for following along on this journey… your words of encouragement and kind thoughts along the way have really helped me (try to) keep a positive attitude.