Injuries
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ACL Recovery Log #5 – Surgery Prep
Well, today is the day! I need to be at the outpatient surgery center at 11am. I’m not going to lie I’m a little anxious. But physical therapy has been going well and my PT said the quads on my injured knee look strong, which is good since that will help a lot after surgery. I’ve been doing leg raises, squats (!), and range of motion exercises. My knee feels pretty good. I’m curious to know how much my MCL has healed thus far, but I still don’t walk without the brace due to fear of my knee collapsing. I’m getting up and down the stairs a lot better, but…
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ACL Recovery Log #4
I have a bouquet of dried flowers sitting on my kitchen counter. They dried nicely and look pretty. I arranged them on December 30, 2019, for our New Year’s Eve party. However, I can’t bring myself to throw them away since they remind me of the time before my injury. It’s a weird and sad thought. But I now split up time “before my injury” and “after my injury”. I don’t think people understand how devastating an injury like this can be for an active person. It would be one thing if I lived a sedentary lifestyle, but not being able to do the things I love has been difficult.…
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ACL Recovery Log #3
As someone who is very goal-orientated, I’m struggling with not having any concrete fitness goals/events to focus on during this injury. My recovery thus far has consisted of small goals, such as starting to ride the stationary bike with increasing RPMs, with bigger “events” to look forward to, such as starting personal training at my gym to increase my overall fitness and beginning pre-surgery physical therapy. It is difficult not having a big event on the horizon. Usually this time of year I’m gearing up for a spring gravel event and the epic Farmer’s Daughter gravel grinder in May. Ironically, I had just signed up for that ride when I…
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ACL Recovery Log #2
Yesterday was my three-week follow up with my orthopedic surgeon. He said everything was on track to have the surgery in about a month. Most of the swelling has gone down and my MCL is on it’s way to healing. I’ve been wearing my brace at all times when walking. I scheduled the surgery for February 28th. In the meantime, I’ll be doing a few weeks of physical therapy to strengthen my quad, increase range of motion in my knee, and prepare my knee for the surgery—ACL Reconstruction. Because of my age and activity level, my surgeon recommended a cadaver graft, meaning he will take the tissue from a cadaver…
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ACL Recovery Log #1
Time for a knee update! Since my last post, I’ve weaned myself from using the crutches! Hurray! It’s the little things. I still use once crutch from time to time and use both when I don’t have a brace on. However, I haven’t tried putting any weight on my knee without the brace since I’m terrified my knee will give out again. Today I walked into work for the first time without crutches. Yesterday was also my first day back at the gym! I had some anxiety about walking into the gym—I was worried that parking lot would be too icy and snowy for me to walk in but thankfully…