Category: Sports

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The circumstances had to be just right

Well, the results of my PT appointment weren’t what I’d hoped, but given the nature of what happened during the game yesterday, it’s not like I had high hopes to begin with.

As soon as I got there, I told Chad (the physical therapist) that I had a question unrelated to my shoulder. He didn’t know about the knee surgery, so the first thing he did was have me lie down and bend my knees so he could pull and push my legs in different directions. The ACL graft and knee structure are about as symmetrical as they can get, which meant there wasn’t an obvious reason for the right one to lock up like it did.

His best guess: When I got hurt, there was a slight tear in my meniscus along with the torn ACL. Since it was slight, the doc didn’t trim anything off since the pad between your knee bones doesn’t grow back. It’s possible that the tiny flap moved in just the right (or wrong) direction to start getting pinched between the bones. As soon as that happened, the muscles locked up to protect it, thus preventing the tear from getting worse as well as allowing my body to tumble to the ground.

It’s a feasible explanation and doesn’t rule out the possibility of a repeat performance. I’m willing to take that chance—something as simple as this isn’t going to keep me off the soccer field—but if my knees become totally symmetrical and both start locking up at random times, Chad may have to come up with a new best guess.

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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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Go VCU!

I was watching parts of Virginia Commonwealth University’s basketball game against #1-ranked Kansas this afternoon and I swear to God, I don’t get that giddy cheering for my local teams. It’s not so much that I’m rooting for the underdog (which I am) or jumping on the bandwagon (which also may be true)—I hope that VCU wins because their coach, Shaka Smart, is a fellow ’99 Kenyon grad.

I have to admit, it’s a tad disturbing how so many commentators out there have fallen in love with him during the NCAA tournament this year. When they mention names, you never hear about the players. It’s all Shaka Smart. I sometimes wonder if a bunch of them secretly want to bear his children, but that’s beside the point.

When the game was over, someone was interviewing Shaka and a couple players on the floor and mentioned how a lot of people doubted that VCU could make it to the Final Four. Shaka’s response: “Well, they don’t really matter.” He went on to talk about his team, but that one sentence slapped a whole bunch of college basketball fans in the face with a big Eff You! (Incidentally, that sentence made me feel even more giddy.)

So while I’d never heard of Virginia Commonwealth University before this year’s NCAA tournament (I’m sure I’m not the only one), I’m still all pumped up and ready to root for their team and their coach. Go Shaka! Go VCU!

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Extreme weather

It was a bit chilly when I headed out the front door this morning. Like -6 degrees chilly. At 9:20, so the air had already had time to warm up from -18 last night. Still, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do when his soccer game is scheduled for 10:00. (Thankfully, my car started after such a cold night, which also allowed me to do what I hadta do.)

Yep, it was game #2 of the season and I was ready to play the first half again. I’ll probably wait a few more weeks before playing a full game since I want to work my way back slowly. A full game minus time for substitutions, of course. Even if I was at full-strength, I ain’t that crazy.

So I was back on the field, felt another weird tweak or two when I moved the wrong way, but I felt better running around this time. I also felt better after the game—a few hours later, I could walk up and down the stairs without a severe limp. I think I had the right idea last week. My left quad hurt a lot; so did my right knee. The patellar tendon is connected to the quadriceps, so instead of having a sore right quad, the pressure ended up over the front of my kneecap instead. Regardless, they both feel better than last week, so that probably means my body is getting used to playing again.

[As a side-note, the game was tied 0-0 at halftime and we ended up losing 2-1. Obviously, I was the difference-maker. Obviously.]

This afternoon, I watched NBC’s World of Adventure Sports. Fortunately, the segment on the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge ran first. (Not surprisingly, that portion of the show was sponsored in part by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.) Not so fortunately, Justin’s TV time was minimal at best. Damn.

It focused on each section of the race, brutal conditions on the course (aside from all the heat and sand, one day on the kayaks was cancelled due to winds over 30 knots), the winning team from Australia and a former Olympian who was racing with one of the other U.S. teams. The winning team, well, they finished first in every section of the race for their fourth consecutive overall victory of the Adventure Challenge, so you can’t really blame NBC for showing a lot of footage of them. As for the Olympian, she seemed cool, but she wasn’t racing with us, so meh…

Toward the end of the segment, it showed a quick flash of WEDALI signing out at the finish line and then a clip of the Olympian again. As she stood there, I looked to her right and my eyes got really big: “That guy looks just like me!” Then Molly, Justin’s wife, came onscreen and gave the Olympian a hug. I’ll have to take another look, but if the guy had #13 on his team vest, it means my little brother and I look a lot more similar than I thought. If you ignore the eight inch height and big weight difference, that is.

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Exposing the media to Crazy

It seems that adventure racing is no longer a sport designated for cable access. NBC is starting up a new season of a show called “The World of Adventure Sports” this weekend and features… get ready for it… a segment on the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge (you can see a little more info here). WEDALI placed in the middle of the pack, but they were one of three teams from the U.S. and should get some screen time because of it. If they don’t… well, they should.

So set your TiVo or DVR or just tune in to your local NBC station this Sunday at 2:00 CST and hopefully get a peek at my little brother Justin, his WEDALI teammates and sand. Yeah, you’ll definitely get to see lots of sand.

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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.