Friday, February 13, 2009

Rehab is for Quitters

And apparently I am a quitter. I started rehab for my knee today and it was...interesting. My first session was 20 minutes with a fascia (spelling?) machine that is supposed to relax my fascia. Fascia is a part of the connective tissue that surrounds muscles, bones, tendons, etc...it acts like the protective casing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascia Before using the machine, we tugged on my legs and made me push against his arms - it was really hard and I didn't do very well. Certain muscles have become jammed and it is due to some of the fascia not being able to work properly...or something. Anyway, he used the machine on me (I wish I remembered it's name) - basically it was round thing, circular, not spherical, that vibrated and he put it on certain joints on my legs, arms and head. Most of it was relaxing, but the head thing was a little uncomfortable. After this he made me repeat the pushing on his arms and I was AMAZED at how much easier it was. It was bizarre.

He also 'adjusted' me - I was okay with the back popping but the neck popping was a different story. It felt like he was a ninja and he was trying to kill me. I won't be having that done again anytime soon.

Then I went to the stretching lady who worked with me on proper posture and we discussed why my knees are bad and why the mechanics of my body are making my knee hurt. The way I sit - which is indian style always all the time - has made me really flexible in that direction, however, it has also made the opposing muscles very short and contracted, hence I kind of turn out my feet when I run/walk/stand/sit, etc...this has in turn made some of my leg muscles work over time to compensate for my ridiculous running style. Sooo, today, we worked on proper posture and a few stretching and balancing exercises. It was hard. She also said that I REALLY REALLY REALLY have to stop locking my knees...it is soooooo hard to stand for long periods of time without locking my knees. She said that it's because I haven't developed those muscles...are you kidding me? Ugh. I'm afraid of my legs getting giant like cheerleader legs.

I go back twice next week and I am supposed to do 1 hour of balancing, flexibility and core strength exercies a day - I have no idea when I will find time for this.

My poor knee. I may or may not have teared up a little when she told me I will have to stop sitting indian style. So far, the jury is out on how this approach to rehab will work, but since I've tried everything else, I don't have anything to lose...except a giant wad of cash. Wish me luck!

The plan for the weekend is a couple hour run on Saturday before my parents get up and then a brick on Sunday. Hopefully the knee can survive!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

stick with it! ~natalie