This week was all about reviewing my dodgy knee. I have ongoing Patella Tendinopathy in my knee that I’ve been dealing with for 18 months and resulted in me deferring my 2018 Ironman race to 2019.
I had a review with a Physiotherapist at the Sports Injury Clinic at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. It’s been at least 6 months since I saw physiotherapist so it was definitely good to be reminded of a few things. Learning points from the session are
- It’s not unusual for a tendon to be problematic for 18 months or more.
- It’s about managing the training load, to provide some stimulus to the tendon but without overloading it. I’ve definitely made mistake with this so it’s great to be reminded about this, and to come up with a protocol to manage it more closely.
- The current strategy is to start off with running for 10 minutes, 2-3 times per week. I then monitor my knee’s response to this over 24-48 hours post run. If irritation and pain continues beyond this period then the stimulus was too high.
- I still need to increase strength and stability to avoid compensating with the wrong muscles and so that my body is strong enough to support my four times my body weight every time I land in running.
It feels great to do some running – although 10 minutes totally kills me. So the thought of running a marathon seems totally impossible. Still it’s a step by step process, I have a plan and lots of people helping me all of which really helps me to feel positive about the process.
If you’re struggling with injury and don’t have an injury management strategy or plan to get back to training then get in touch for a review and to see how I can help.