I had an appointment with a local orthopedist this afternoon, and although I have something of a mixed bag of good and bad news, the positives certainly outweigh the negatives.
I don't have any ligament tears to speak of, but I do have a "loose PCL" on my left side. As the doctor indicated, my PCL is failing to prevent posterior (backward) movement of my tibia (shin bone). The occasional shifting sensation is rather uncomfortable, but it's not painful or representative of any major knee instability in my case; instead, it's a long-undiagnosed byproduct of the blunt force trauma from my accident.
In other good news, I should be hitting the rehab circuit soon for a few weeks of *insert doctor's orders here*. I'm not sure what that will entail exactly, but I don't expect the rehabilitative paradigm to be rocked anytime soon, especially since I can't exactly rehab this injury away. Regardless, I'm still looking forward to meeting yet another new therapist (really; I'm serious).
As alluded to above, this isn't something that's just going to "get better," and I am a poor candidate for PCL surgery for two very important reasons: knee stability is not significantly compromised by the looseness (remember, it's not torn), and I'm no upper-echelon athlete indulging in any of the more physically abusive (and abrupt) sports and activities that need a knee as close to physiological perfection as possible.
Instead, I should brace it when and where appropriate and avoid--although this one seemed pretty obvious--any extreme lower-body twisting motions and be careful with other, more conservative movements (certain stances and the like come to mind). Fortunately this is pretty weak bad news, as I had never really planned on indulging in any crazy rotational plyometric work anyway. Still, this is all good to know and will help me to better plan my short- and long-term workout goals around my unique biomechanical limitations.
This recent revelation aside, I still need to focus on getting my knee feeling better if I'm to begin eccentrically tackling my patellar issues. Additionally, I could almost consider myself at that precious (and presently hypothetical) "baseline of health" if I can also manage to tame my tennis elbow and pectoral issues in the coming months, but I'll focus on the boon of not needing knee surgery for now.
I don't have any ligament tears to speak of, but I do have a "loose PCL" on my left side. As the doctor indicated, my PCL is failing to prevent posterior (backward) movement of my tibia (shin bone). The occasional shifting sensation is rather uncomfortable, but it's not painful or representative of any major knee instability in my case; instead, it's a long-undiagnosed byproduct of the blunt force trauma from my accident.
In other good news, I should be hitting the rehab circuit soon for a few weeks of *insert doctor's orders here*. I'm not sure what that will entail exactly, but I don't expect the rehabilitative paradigm to be rocked anytime soon, especially since I can't exactly rehab this injury away. Regardless, I'm still looking forward to meeting yet another new therapist (really; I'm serious).
As alluded to above, this isn't something that's just going to "get better," and I am a poor candidate for PCL surgery for two very important reasons: knee stability is not significantly compromised by the looseness (remember, it's not torn), and I'm no upper-echelon athlete indulging in any of the more physically abusive (and abrupt) sports and activities that need a knee as close to physiological perfection as possible.
Instead, I should brace it when and where appropriate and avoid--although this one seemed pretty obvious--any extreme lower-body twisting motions and be careful with other, more conservative movements (certain stances and the like come to mind). Fortunately this is pretty weak bad news, as I had never really planned on indulging in any crazy rotational plyometric work anyway. Still, this is all good to know and will help me to better plan my short- and long-term workout goals around my unique biomechanical limitations.
This recent revelation aside, I still need to focus on getting my knee feeling better if I'm to begin eccentrically tackling my patellar issues. Additionally, I could almost consider myself at that precious (and presently hypothetical) "baseline of health" if I can also manage to tame my tennis elbow and pectoral issues in the coming months, but I'll focus on the boon of not needing knee surgery for now.
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