Thank God for physical therapy tomorrow

Because I have some questions.

I’ve been going to PT because of a strained rotator cup in my left shoulder (compliments of the car rollover). My next appointment is tomorrow, so I’ll be able to tell the therapist what happened this afternoon and maybe he’ll have some ideas. I sure don’t.

I was playing soccer—absolutely gorgeous outside, 73 degrees and sunny—even though I’m still a little beat up. My knee is okay, but I feel an occasional tweak when I twist the wrong way. I move, the tweak goes away, the game continues, no big deal. This wasn’t a tweak. I don’t know what it was. I do know that there was no popping or tearing sensation, so while it might be sore, I’m not worried about severe damage.

It was almost the end of the game, I had been running around all over the field and was sprinting forward to try and keep the ball from going out of bounds. You all know how your legs move when you run: push off with one leg, bring your other thigh up and extend your lower leg, put your foot down on the ground to push yourself forward again, repeat as necessary.

This time, I pushed off with my left leg, brought my right thigh up and started to extend my leg. Then my knee reached about a 120 degree angle and said, “That’s far enough!” It just stopped moving. Momentum + no foot to land on = Shawn falling to his arms and knees + panicky teammates.

It took me a moment to recover (no screaming and writhing around in pain, thankfully), then I got up and hobbled a couple steps to reach the sideline. From there, it was a long walk around the field to the other side. When I got there, people were asking me what happened and I didn’t know anything beyond the fact that I fell.

After talking to the physical therapist, I hope I’ll have an answer. An answer and an assurance that it won’t happen again. If not, I might have to avoid what I did after soccer this afternoon: bowling. I opted out this time because of my knee, but if it could lock up at any time (say, while I’m striding up toward the lane with a 16-pound ball attached to my fingers), I might have to worry about more than just a strained rotator cuff.