Ok. About a month and a half ago I hurt my knee in black belt class. I don't know when because it didn't really start to hurt for about two hours, but when I got home it started to swell and stiffen up. So, in the interests of proactive preventive health conscious medicince, I ignored the pain and went to bed without doing ANYTHING to try to make it better. Of course, when I woke up, my knee had swollen to the point that I couldn't quite straighten my leg and I could only barely put any pressure on it at all. Yay! I think the swelling stressed the tendons and connective tissues, and then when the swelling went down, which it did, the tissue was still damaged.
So of course, I decided to start taking care of it and I hobbled around like a mad man and refused to skip a single class, because of course, what the damaged joint needed was more intense stress applied to it. I know, squat thrusts, and jump kicks, that'll make it better. Ok, so it took about a month for the pain to subside to the point that I had more or less full use of my right leg, but now I still have a constant dull ache in my knee. I think part of the problem is that my alter ego is Pizza Man, and so I drive around all night and walk up and down stairs. That wouldn't be so bad, but four days of that and five days of kenpo each week is taking its toll. I think its just taking so long to heal because I haven't let it rest.
So here's my question. What can I do while I'm sitting naked in front of the television at three in the morning to help my knee heal. I've finally decided that I might do something, but I'm really not sure what to do. I know R I C E, but I think that's more for immediate care, what about an older injury? Heat? Cold? Compression? Massage? What should I do? Surely I'm not the first person here to hurt his knee. What did you do?
I've had long lasting injuries before, but they were in my shoulders, back, or chest. I could ignore that pain because I don't walk on my arms. I can ignore this too, but I really don't want to limp everywhere. Any suggestions?
-Rob
So of course, I decided to start taking care of it and I hobbled around like a mad man and refused to skip a single class, because of course, what the damaged joint needed was more intense stress applied to it. I know, squat thrusts, and jump kicks, that'll make it better. Ok, so it took about a month for the pain to subside to the point that I had more or less full use of my right leg, but now I still have a constant dull ache in my knee. I think part of the problem is that my alter ego is Pizza Man, and so I drive around all night and walk up and down stairs. That wouldn't be so bad, but four days of that and five days of kenpo each week is taking its toll. I think its just taking so long to heal because I haven't let it rest.
So here's my question. What can I do while I'm sitting naked in front of the television at three in the morning to help my knee heal. I've finally decided that I might do something, but I'm really not sure what to do. I know R I C E, but I think that's more for immediate care, what about an older injury? Heat? Cold? Compression? Massage? What should I do? Surely I'm not the first person here to hurt his knee. What did you do?
I've had long lasting injuries before, but they were in my shoulders, back, or chest. I could ignore that pain because I don't walk on my arms. I can ignore this too, but I really don't want to limp everywhere. Any suggestions?
-Rob