Category: The B’s Knees

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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.

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A new year, a new season

After ACL replacement surgery in April, I was determined to come back and start playing soccer again in 2011. Mission accomplished.

The season actually started on the 9th, but because our team got registered a little late, we had a bye week, giving me an extra seven days to exercise and prepare. (Yay for working out with the Wii!) This afternoon, I went to a presentation in Minneapolis, had dinner with Grandma, then went to the soccer game at 7:15. By the time I got to the field, I honestly wasn’t sure whether I’d be playing or not.

Exercising on the Wii may have helped me build up some long-lost muscle, but the workout programs available don’t provide much in the way of sprinting and kicking. I was intent on getting to the field, jump a few times, run, sprint, kick a ball… whether I was going to play or not depended on how much my knee hurt or how stiff it felt after putting it through that kind of stress. No point in suffering extreme amounts of pain and having to sit out for another couple months just to get on the field for 10-15 minutes.

I’m not sure if I’ve explained this before, but “knee pain” has nothing to do with the replaced ligament. That’s healed just fine. The pain is above and below my kneecap and rears its ugly head when I squat down, jump, etc. (I’m assuming it’s because the replacement ligament used to be the middle third of my patellar tendon, which stretches from the quad over the kneecap to the shin.) Thus, the problem is probably that the tendon isn’t at full strength yet. That’s my guess, anyway—all I know for sure is that’s where my knee hurts.

Anyway, after running around and taking a couple shots on goal, I felt okay (relatively speaking). There were a few small flashes of pain, but it wasn’t enough to keep me off the field tonight. I ended up playing… probably 10-15 minutes. I started the first half, subbed out a couple times, and survived the first 25 minutes of the game without too much trouble. For safety’s sake, I spent the second half on the sideline. (When the other team scored a goal, I felt a familiar urge to put my gear on and get back out on the field, but this is one injury I don’t want to aggravate any more than I already have.)

When the game was over and we had secured a 5-3 victory, I walked out onto the field and shook hands with the other team, walked back to the sideline and didn’t feel too bad with my knee covered by a thin layer of Biofreeze. However, that not-feeling-too-bad went away after an hour or two.

Now it hurts when I try to lift and straighten my leg… well, there are a handful of ways to move my leg that hurt at the moment, but lying here in bed with ice on my knee, I really don’t care. Pain is temporary—I’ll feel better after a day or two—but playing soccer again… well, it’s not pride, so it’s not forever. Still, being on the soccer field after so long has made the pain seem a lot more tolerable.

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Mmmm, menthol…

Man, if all this exercising with the Wii pans out, I might develop some semblance of cardiovascular fitness. It’s always been a dream of mine… but the biggest reason I’m doing it is because of my knee. My goal since surgery in April was to start playing again in 2011. (The doc gave me the all-clear after four months, but better safe than going under the knife again.) The winter season starts on Jan 9th, so that goal is inching ever closer.

These days, it usually hurts above and below my kneecap after working out and feeling a stabbing pain while trying to push off the turf to run forward might hamper my ability to play. So I’m taking precautions. For example, I’m putting ice on my knee for at least 15 minutes after exercising. The doctor recommended it, but bringing an icepack to the game and trying to keep it cold so I can sit around with it strapped to my leg afterward could prove difficult. I tested an alternative today and I think it’ll work: Biofreeze.

You may remember from back in November that I used it on my knee during one of the Mind Over Matt performances, at which point the back of the tube ripped open and plopped its contents all over the floor. I prevented that problem this time by getting a “roll-on” dispenser, which means it’s difficult to get stuff out even when you’re using it properly. Even so, I used it on my knee after my workout today and made a few discoveries:

1) It does indeed feel like I’m icing my knee.
2) I could get up and walk around instead of sitting in a chair with an icepack wrapped around my leg.
3) It makes me smell like menthol.

That last one could be a nuisance since I have to drive home after the game, which is sometimes a 30-minute drive. That scent could fill up the vehicle to the point where it always smells like menthol and every time I give someone a ride, they’ll ask if I have a chest cold and use Vicks VapoRub to try to get rid of it. I could open the windows while driving home, but during wintertime in Minnesota… I might end up needing the VapoRub.

Still, I think that’s the route I’m gonna go. If it’ll get me back on the field, I can handle a funky-smelling Shawn in the car—I’m willing to make that sacrifice. If you want a ride… well, you might get stuck making some sacrifices, too.

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What, my ACL could get a cavity?

I went to the dentist today for the first time in… a long time. Since it was my first time at that clinic, I got there at about 1:10 to do some paperwork before a 1:30 appointment. I filled out the forms, then sat around until it was time for me to get my teeth cleaned. Finally, it was 1:30. Then 1:40. About 1:50, the person at the desk saw me in the reception area and said she’d go take a look to see what was up. She came back and told me the dentist was still helping someone and it’d be another ten minutes before I could get back there. Yeah, they were running a little behind schedule.

Upon my arrival into the dentist’s chair, they told me they couldn’t clean my teeth. Why? Because I had knee surgery in April and they needed Dr. Lewis to sign a form saying it was okay to do it. I was a little annoyed, but that’s their policy (for legal reasons or something else, I dunno). So I asked how far back it goes. I mean, surgery was almost eight months ago. That’s a pretty long time, right? Well, not long enough according to their standards:

You need to have that form signed if you’ve had an operation performed in the last two years.

Sure, I think that’s ridiculous, but that’s their policy. The dentist wasn’t going to clean my teeth, but they took some x-rays and found out I have no new cavities after all this time. So that’s the lesson of the day, kids: remember to brush and floss properly and you can have surgery as often as you want.

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Note to self: read the list of exercises first

I was eager to try out EA Sports Active 2 today, so I did a load of laundry first thing in the morning, ensuring that I’d have clean workout clothes. If all went according to plan, they’d be soaked with sweat by the time I was done. Turns out that even though things didn’t go according to plan, I was still soaked with sweat. Funny how exercising can do that to a person who hasn’t had a solid workout in many moons. Continue reading “Note to self: read the list of exercises first“

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Stuntmen are for sissies.

I know, it’s been about a week and a half since Mind Over Matt closed shop and I never reported anything about how things went from the second weekend of performances. Truth is, it all ran pretty well. I had a few word gaffes on Friday (much like the previous week), but aside from that, no harms or fouls. On second thought, scratch that: I suffered several harms that were caused by yours truly. Continue reading “Stuntmen are for sissies.”