Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Knee Update

 
I saw a specialist today about my knee.
I did have to wait 2 hours to be seen. He was running really late. I did fall asleep in the waiting room too.

The person who took me back, gave me X-Rays.

The PA came in and thought I'd need an MRI. I have loose knee caps. All the pounding could easily knock some cartilage loose.
The doctor came in and talked to me for awhile. He said basically that it is inflammation from all the running.  He was surprised to hear that when I run I am not always running on the same side of the road because this is a common injury for people that do. He mentioned something about my Patella or patellofemoral but I'm not sure which or what exactly.

I was asking questions and he said not to worry that the PA would go over everything again. But she didn't. And I forgot because when someone came in telling me to check out and get paperwork I just thought I'd get something there.

I am to rest for 4-5 days. I clarified asking total rest or non impact exercises. He said total rest.
I am to take Naproxen for 10 days (or Advil or Alieve but I have Naproxen)
The only cardio he recommends for awhile is something in a pool.  He mentioned swimming, kicking holding onto a buoy, running in water, or acqua jogging.

We talked about shoes and then I mentioned my orthotics. He said my stiff orthotics are the worst kind for runners but podiatrists tend to really like them. I need to wean myself off of using them. I'm getting different orthotics from him.

We talked about shoes and stitching in shoes which I had never ever thought about before in my life.

I have to start Physical Therapy. 2 times a week for 4 weeks.
I have to ice my knee using a dixie cup and doing an ice massage instead of just icing it.  Electric stimulation (e-stim, or eletrotherapy) will be used too. A few other things were mentioned but I forget. He mentioned 3 stretches to do for it and all three are stretches I do regularly.

"We will try our best to get you ready to run [the marathon] but it doesn't look promising" is what he said at one point.
I have this prescription for PT that has mroe information on it but I can't read it. Distal ITB tendonitis. Then something about flex but I can't read it. it looks like "flex per plauus" but is in cursive so it could be i's. I can' figure out what it means.
Circled for exercise program is hip AB/ER, core strengthening, ITB.
For Therapeutic exercises checked is isometrics, closed chain, PNF/Proprioceptive training, and then beside Aquatic Therapy it has "indep."
For Modalities, he wrote distal ITB and checked Iontopheresis or phonophoresis and ice massage.
At the bottom is has patient's next office visit an I can't figure out what that says.
See below for what I can't decipher.  Do you have any guesses?


I wasn't really told a specific diagnosis. I guess based on this PT prescription it is tendonitis and something I can't read.

The pictures are of my x-rays. Before I left the room I got out my phone and took a picture of the x-ray on the screen. I then clicked through to see the other views. Of course today I forgot my camera so I had to use my phone. Around 9:00, I had realized I forgot it and I wondered where it was.

Well there you have it.
So my first marathon will be the marathon that never happened.

7 comments:

  1. Oh, wow. I didn't realize your injury was so serious! I really hope you heal quickly, but healing is the most important thing. Not the marathon and not running - having healthy knees is number one!

    Good luck!

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  2. Chrissy, I figured it'd be bad but didn't know how bad. Also definition of bad would be almost anything that limits my exercise. But I also didn't think it was as bad as they said. I almost thought I shouldn't go to the doctors for something that was probably nothing.

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  3. Was it patellofemoral tendinitis? (If it was, I've had that. And same prognosis: rest and pool.)

    Your doctor agrees with pretty much all the stuff I make up in my head about running (no hard orthotics, dixie cup ice, aqua jogging), so maybe it's not quackery, after all. I think if you do everything he says how he said to do it, you can be back up to activity sooner rather than later. Did he say anything about glucosamine?

    Every so often when it feels like this injury is coming back, it's always back to the Theraband foot/knee exercises and serious icing, along with cutting back on running. It sucks, but it's healable. Hope you feel better soon.

    ::fingerscrossed::

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  4. I thought the guy said patellofemoral something but that isn't what it says for the 2nd part of the diagnosis. It looks like flex something or other.

    You could be a fake doctor and give advice on the cheap. or be a trainer. you could do it all.

    So far I'm listening to the doctor but it sucks because I have a week between what he told me and starting PT because of PT appointments. I feel like I should call and say hey what do I do for a week but I'm scared.

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  5. Now I'm wondering what yinz discussed about stitching.

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  6. standing IT band stretch. How about I take pictures because I don't know properly how to describe. but one foot crossed over other and arm in air leaning,
    secretaries, and one lying down where knee is bent and ankle over other knee (bent leg) and you reach through the hole and pull.

    ReplyDelete