1. I've never walked through soup before, but I'm pretty sure that it's the same feeling one would get if he or she took a walk outside right now.
2. A little bit of positivity goes a long way.
Moving on to the actual post:
It's amazing how a knee injury can come back and ruin a morning of single leg squats ten years after the fact.
When I was 12 or so (in the seventh grade), I spent the afternoon with my soon-to-be (at the time) step-brother Chris. This was the era of Blink-182 and JNCO jeans, so that means that he owned all of the necessary punk equipment--including a skateboard and a trick bike.
We decided it would be cool to go explore SW 18th st and take a trip over the turnpike passover. Chris took his skateboard, and I took the trick bike. The next morning, I woke up, and my knee was incredibly swollen. There seemed to be a huge knot just below the kneecap. Neither Advil nor RICE took the pain or the swelling away, and the lump continued to grow for the next week.
By the time I saw a doctor, things were bad. It hurt to walk, it ached when it rained, and the lump just wouldn't get any smaller. It wasn't a minor injury or a simple bursitis--it was a bone tumor called an "osteochondroma," which apparently run in my family. The only way to remove it was to actually shave the piece of bone off of my leg--but the doctor couldn't do it until after I'd finished growing because the tumor was sitting right next to my growth plate.
I spent the rest of middle school & the first half of 9th grade in and out of a leg immobilizer and even crutches by the end. Not being a particularly athletic kid to begin with, I rejoiced at the opportunity to spend phys. ed. on the sidelines reading a book. Unfortunately, though, I was in a lot of pain (like the "4-Advil-every-4-hours-was-completely-ineffective" kind of pain) and I was embarrassed by the ugly deformity that seemed a permanent part of my body.
Fortunately, I was able to have the surgery in January of 2002. The biopsy revealed that the tumor was benign (as expected), and I was all better, but for the ugly scar that to this day stands out on the front of my leg. And the whole nerve damage thing. Oh, and the damage to my kinetic chain.
So, in the fitness world, the kinetic chain is just a fancy way of referencing this song. So many injuries that occur in the gym occur because we have imbalances in our bodies, and when we compensate for those imbalances, we end up damaging the connected bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc. (I'll elaborate on this in another post, 'cause I think it deserves some attention.)
In my case, I never properly rehabbed my knee. The muscles were all disrupted by the tumor and then the surgery, and because I never went about strengthening them properly after the surgery, I'm still feeling the after effects. I started running Cross Country in the 10th grade, but even though I was getting stronger, faster, and fitter, my leg was still weak, and my balance & stability were, in technical terms, "piss poor." As a result, I stress fractured my ankle twice--once in 10th and once in 11th, both times during the intensive training periods before District and Regional competition.
To this day, I have little balance or stability in my right leg...and lately, since I've gained a lot of weight and started running again, I've felt that familiar tweak in my ankle. Which made my morning at the gym hell. I could barely hold myself up while I tried to squat on just my right leg...and I had to deal with a throbbing pain in my ankle for the rest of the day.
I'm going to have to take it easy, and I'm NOT happy about it.
However...I'm going to try to keep it positive. I have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks, not least getting to spend time with my family & some long lost friends :).
Buenas noches (and more tomorrow!)
Kaila
PS My workout for the day:
Dynamic warm up
Super Set 1: Reverse Woodchop (8x3) & Stability Ball Jackknife (16x3)
Super Set 2: Step Ups on Bench (8x3) & T-Pushup (4x3)
Super Set 3: Single Leg Squat (8x3) & Alternating Lateral Raise (8x3)
Super Set 4: Supinated Hip Extension with Leg Curl on Stability Ball (16x3) & Inverted Row (8x3)
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