How do you deal with knee pain and injury? This article provides useful tips for you.
As I jog this morning, I couldn’t help thinking about how I’ve been doing this thing for so many years. Yes, of course I “need” to exercise, but I get that funny feeling that I’m doing it like crazy with no end in sight.
But my regular workout brought with it dividends when I met a serious accident that posed a threat to my 3-4 day run in a week. Here’s my short story, my remedy, and how I recovered.
Background on the Knee Injury
Today, I’ve resumed running after having slid on a mossy (and of course slippery) concrete entrance in front of our house. My slip was so bad I almost broke my bones as I lay on the ground, facing the skies, in a split second.
Without further ado, I had that concrete broken into fragments (Figure 1) to prevent it from getting slippery again, all the while thinking why I have not done it before. I expect things like this could happen to me.
I’m lucky because I didn’t hit my head on the side of the concrete stair. It could have been a more serious matter if I hit my head on the hard surface. My conditioning somehow helped me avoid the catastrophe because I cushioned the impact with both of my hands, although I involuntarily stretched my legs into a queer, outstretched leg 4 position. I was quick to get up, thinking I was in an embarrassing situation. No one saw me as nobody reacted to my mishap.
Anyhow, what has this story got to do with my running routine?
First, my running routine strengthened my limbs, my legs could absorb the impact of falling on the ground. Although my muscles were stretched badly because I had an involuntary split, and I could not walk well and use a quad crane crutch for two weeks, I could recover despite limping around for a week or so.
I avoid sleeping on my sides because a little twist around the knee area causes radiating knee pain. It’s a sprained knee, I suppose? That could be the correct technical term. It’s not also a torn ligament as I can still walk right after I had the accident. But my right knee got worse in the next few days.
X-Ray as Routine Approach to Injuries or Fractures
After consulting my niece, a medical doctor, she requested for an x-ray to see what’s going on in my knee. Taking an x-ray is a necessary procedure to diagnose or detect if bone fracture has occurred.
The x-ray results (see Figure 2) revealed that there was no knee fracture whatever, despite my feeling that something appeared to have been broken. The x-ray specialist wrote some notations, but these are normal observations as people age, e.g., things mentioned in the x-ray report like bone spur formation, sharpening of intercondylar space, and narrowing of the joint space. I’ve seen these technical terms before. We cannot avoid these conditions, only delay, as people age and use their limbs in walking or moving about, causing wear and tear through the years.
Well, feelings that there’s some fracture could be wrong, as x-ray technology revealed. The knee pain must be originating from muscle that got stretched, not a fractured bone or anything like that.
It’s a relief, and I was hopeful I could run again. And I did for the last three days after recovery from that mishap on December 15, 2022. It took me 26 days to recover and get back to my routine running activity. What a year to end.
Self-Treatment While Recovering from Knee Injury
If you got the same case as mine, the following tips on taking care of your knee will help. It worked for me.
- Use an elastic band to keep the knee joint from moving,
- Use a crutch (e.g. quad crane crutch) to prevent stressing the knee joint while it heals, and
- Apply a mentholated cream or rub on the affected part to relieve pain.
I did these three things and I find them effective, particularly the last one—a Creations spa massage, as it provides a soothing relief from the lingering pain. If you still have some intolerable pain, a paracetamol would work great.
Final Words of Advice on Knee Injury
Knee injury because of accidents is manageable. Just quickly have it diagnosed for broken bones or fractures to avoid uneven bone growth, thus affect your stride while exercising or walking.
I wrote this article not only to share it but also to refer to it if ever I experience the same thing again.
But of course I will make sure that I have made certain precautions to avoid slipping once again and avoid knee injury that impacts on my work and ability to enjoy my favorite sport—running.
I’m back in shape and ready to huff and puff my regular 2 milers. I also reap the benefits of stronger muscles and bones despite my age.
© 2023 January 12 P. A. Regoniel
