Draining + Injection = Relief

FORTITUDE
for·ti·tude   [fawr-ti-tood, -tyood]
–noun
mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation courageously.

I awoke today to an empty house, all of my teammates have packed up and headed to Reno for the Nevada Invitational. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty nice to have the house to myself for a few days. I went to a few classes this morning and then made my way up to the orthopedic center with my trainer Nick. I had an appointment with my surgeon which was followed by an intense physical therapy session. Dr. Burks is very pleased with my range of motion and the minimal amount of swelling in my knee. We decided another round of prolotherapy was in order, the injection last week greatly relieved my pain for a few days so I was looking forward to another all week. As the team set up the injections Dr. Burks continued to examine me. He pulled, yanked, twisted, pushed, and prodded my knee... Tighter than ever, and it actually didn't hurt me that much. It was as if I just needed someone to grab that thing and put it in its place, its like the Doc somehow awoke my knee from its slumber and told it to get its ass into gear! The injection hurt a bit more this week, I think because the nerves have started to work properly again, finally. After the injection was finished I set up another appointment with Burks for 3 weeks down the road and was told I could start weight-bearing, still with crutches, but weight bearing none the less.

We headed down the hallway to PT and started what would turn out to be a pretty brutal workout. We first took measurements and assessed the swelling. Both have improved tremendously since my last visit. Then I did a few quad sets and straight-leg raises under my own power. Then the real fun began... My therapist hooked my quadriceps muscle (in six different locations)up to stem. It was set to engage in waves, ten seconds on, ten seconds off. When the stem is fully engaged it sends electric impulses into my muscles firing them, causing my muscles to flex far more than I am capable of doing under my own power at this point. You get slightly used to it after a bit, but it is very painful. It basically feels like the worst cramping I have ever experienced. Anyway, the stem would fire, then I would try and help fire my quad even harder, re-teaching my muscles in the process. For the first 15 minutes of stem I just focused on firing with my leg laying flat on the table. For the second fifteen minutes, every ten seconds I did three straight leg lifts. It was a very painful, but a very rewarding exercise. YES it took a long time, YES I was dripping with sweat, and YES it hurt like hell, but I was looking down at a thigh which I was beginning to recognize as my own. It was the first time I have seen all my muscles come out from hiding, it reminded me what was under all that swelling, and it showed me that I am going to be just fine. I worked hard on my flexion using a total gym doing one-legged body weight squats. I felt as if I could go deeper and deeper each repetition and really felt the burn in my muscles. By the time I had finished my total gym exercises I felt as if I just completed a max squat test. Pretty tough, but it showed me what I am capable of doing at this point. After we finished working on the knee I got on a stationary bike with arm handles that also gave resistance. I rested my hurt knee off to the side and did a very tough cardiovascular workout to end the day sweating.