Physical Therapy

Anyone that runs or works out regularly will have nagging aches and pains along the way BUT they tend to hit a point that those nags get more serious.  After landing in Florida super excited to run the Pinellas Country Trail again (& this time with my super excited daughter) I found that I had so much fluid on my knee I was limping and popping Ibuprofen for the first 5 days.  That meant no running the Trail because after the swelling went down we were headed to Disney World and we all know that would be some major walking!  I came home from 10 wonderful days in Florida without a single run but my knee felt fine so the rest had done it good (or so I thought).  After tapering back up I was having no issues until Mother's Day.  My family went on a beautiful (over 3 mile) hike around the Lake at the Audubon Society.  About a mile and a half into the hike there was a popping and super sharp pains in my knee.

As we headed out

 All smiles

Could they be cuter looking for trolls?

That night I Started getting fluid on my knee again and knew it was time to call the Dr.😢 .  I have such big plans in the next 8 months that I need this fixed so I can move forward!  So a trip to the Dr. then

X-Rays

Then the start of Physical Therapy (PT)

A little post muscle beating tape job

So as it turns out we can't work on the strengthening issue of a pesky Quad area until we deal with how horribly tight my Glute (can't remember which one but it's the outside near the hip bone), hamstring, abductor and calf.  I stretch regularly.  That I think is what I find most aggravating here.  Some people don't stretch at all and they have no issues.  Me?  Stretch and do what you are "supposed" to do and BAM injury!  My knee was feeling even better though after about 45 minutes of such deep muscle work that a normal person would have tapped out.  Not me though.  Picture that finish line and I can take anything!  Bring on the "good" pain!  I even got ok'd to start tapering back up.  That's right this girl got to run a whole .25 mile (and then walk the .75) so every other day those numbers will change a bit so long as we can get the knee cap pain under control.

Go ahead be jealous😜

Hopefully by taking you on my journey you can learn a bit about listening to your body and that taking care of it really is the smart thing to do.  No one knows your body like you do so remember that.  Don't listen to friends that think they know more.  Listen to what your brain is telling you.  That finish line will be so much sweeter in the end!  I know mine will!  What an adventure this 8 months is going to be!
Have you done PT?  For what if you have and did it help?