The road to recovery

Since the last entry not much has changed still cycling to rehab the knee, still stretching, bending and strengthening the various muscles involved in the injury. On the upside after a visit to the The Lancaster Physio and some very painful processes I am now allowed to start running again, although only a 1k a time every other day at least it is a start and I can build from there.

After a brief biomechanical assessment which mostly involved watching me do squats and single-leg squats I was asked:

"Why so you think you can't get any lower?" to which I replied

"Probably the gut resting on my knees!"

Apparently it isn't though (hoorah!!) it all stems from an issue with my ankle - which when casting my mind back I did sprain very badly about 18months ago. So onwards with some more testing, a bit of pushing and pulling and the verdict is my knee as a joint is spot on (more hoorahs!) apart from an inflamed patella tendon which I was aware of and that should calm down once everything is sorted.

X Marks the Spot - Gluteus Minimus

Now the painful bit, according to top people who are in the know about these things I had 2 very tight and knotty trigger points which are the root cause of my ITB pain. To release these you essentially have to push through the knot in the muscle - oh how nice and pain free I hear you murmur between yourselves - wrong. The 1st of 2 trigger points was for my Gluteus Minimus or little muscle in the bum - some very precise pressure exerted through some thumb tips into a muscle which a first hurts like hell but as the knot disperses fades away until you are just left with some guys thumb in your lower back. The 2nd, however, was a very different story. The

"Place Elbow Here"

Tensor Fascia Latae (TFL) is on the front of your hip and to access the trigger point we decided (I say we I had no part to play in any decision) to use an elbow and all the resulting power that can be exerted. Now, where the 1st one hurt this one was much worse but the result a much more satisfying release.

After the relief had worn away and I was back in the land of the living a few words of wisdom were imparted along with some more exercises to continue with and off I went. A massive thanks to Brett @ The Lancaster Physio Centre although I doubt that will be the last I see of him!!

Since the last post & the treatment not much to report training wise just a few cycles but more importantly 2 runs - like I said only short at 1.25 but relatively pain free and a starting point to base my training from.

Relentless Rehab

Its now almost a week since my cortisone was strategically placed in my knee and what a frustrating week its been - I've missed out on climbing work, I've missed out on running/swimming/cycling so I resorted to the weights bench.

Being a little rusty (me not the weights) I reverted back to some lightweight exercises to improve my form and try and stay injury free whilst also trying to make it beneficial for my return to the pool. I never really feel I'm getting anywhere with light lifting but I stuck to it and remained injury free - I also ached the day after so it can't have been too bad!

Whilst having the week off from exercise it was Amy's birthday over the weekend too, sadly I couldn't participate in the ice skating but I did make up for it a Pizza Hut later on and with the cake too!! I now definitely need to get back to some exercising if not for the upcoming events but to get shut of pizza and chocolate cake <insert sound of Homer Simpson drooling!>

A rare Monday off today so a little jaunt on the bike to town and back resulting in a stiff knee upon return despite taking it super easy (see the numbers below). Maybe a couple of light swims this week before returning to the running and even then it will be light and short all the while maintaining a regime of glute and hip strengthening to hopefully sort this out!

In other news the new steed arrived this week and is marvellous - just need the weather and knee to be right to give it a go!!