I went to see my doctore, who sent me off to get an MRI, and also urged me to return to Physio. I chose to go to Motion Matters, which was recommended to me by a friend, and I’m so glad I did. My new physiotherapist is really, really good, and I clicked with him right away. He gave me a different diagnosis from my first physiotherapist, which was confirmed a week later by my MRI results. Turns out there are quite a few things wrong with the old knee:
Diagram taken from Wikipedia, for reference purposes.1. I have a slight tear in my meniscus
2. I have a 50% of my Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL)
3. I have high grade focus of lateral chondromalacia patella. (Basically, that means that my kneecap was knocked off its track, and is now moving laterally whenever I bend the joint).
4. Small focal area of full fissuring (like a chasm) in the cartilage under my patella (kneecap).
So bascially, what’s supposed to happen is the cartilage under the kneecap, which is smooth and lovely, is supposed to rub fluidly over the femur whenever the knee is bent. But, what’s happening to me is that the kneecap is not rubbing in its proper track, and because the cartilage is worn in that one spot, it’s kneecap bone rubbing on femur bone, which of course causes pain and stiffness.
So we’ve been working pretty diligently on getting my range of motion back, walking without pain, and set goals such as riding a bike or climbing stairs. I was doing my physio exercises regularly, stopped doing anything that would worsen the condition (like walking to and from work) and made my knee my number 1 priority.
Then, last Thursday, I slipped on some ice. And I fell. On my knee. For serious.
The pain was acute. I was writhing on the ground, in a puddle of water and ice, holding my knee and gasping for breath, unable to get up let alone walk to safety. I stayed there for a good five to ten minutes, trying to take deep breaths and get my focus back.
When I did manage to get in the house, I knew I’d done something terrible. I got overwhelmed with thoughts of the further damage I’d done to my knee, the regression, and the worsened stiffness in the joint. The next few days were marked by added pain, inflammation, and soreness. I called my physiotherapist and told him about it, and he was able to calm me down a little. The way he explains things to me makes so much sense, and takes all the mystery out of the problems I’m facing. He said to ice it a lot, and to rest. I barely left the house all weekend.
And a full week later, my knee was still bruised and still (slightly) swollen:
The lighting was bad, but you can see the discolouration under the kneecap and on that one spot right on the bone.
You can see my left knee is quite swollen. You can also see the bruising here, too.
The bruise on the top of the kneecap is really dark (like almost black). It’s gross!And while I had an appointment booked with my physiotherapist this afternoon, I was SO NERVOUS about it. Nervous because I hadn’t done my exercises all week. Nervous because I had regressed, not progressed, and I didn’t want to “let him down”. But of course it went super well. I told him that I hadn’t done my exercises this week, and he told me he understood and was even glad I didn’t work through the pain. We worked out a new game plan with the knee as it is now, and after working out a few muscles, stretching out a few hamstrings, I was almost back on track.
Now my knee is tapped up nice and tight, I’ve got a game plan for the week ahead, my confidence has been restored – I will make a full recovery and be back on skates in time for the May 29th Roller Derby Bout!!