Ah, working out. I have a love-hate relationship with it at the moment, but not for the reasons you might think. I actually get a lot of enjoyment from exercising – it feels good to get moving, leaves me feeling better afterwards, and is a great way to blow off steam after work. Working from home makes it challenging (And often impossible) to maintain boundaries between work and your personal life, so for me, going to the gym is a great way to “Officially” end my work day and get myself into an entirely different headspace. Plus, since I sit here at a computer writing all day, its feels great to work off stress by doing cardio and weights while I listen to dance music on my iPhone. So, what’s to hate?
I’ve talked a lot on here about the knee injury I’m recovering from, but I’ve never delved into the specifics of what happened. The injury actually occurred while I was using exercise equipment at the gym. The long and short of it is that I actually dislocated both my patella while using a stair machine. It was a “Gradual” dislocation – no, I didn’t know there was such a thing, either! I was using the stair machine on a high resistance for long periods of time, and apparently due to my skeletal structure and tendency to overpronate, the pressure on my patella caused them both to slowly slide out of their track. It took a long time to get a diagnosis of what was wrong, so it gradually got worse and worse due to both my knees being out of socket while I continued with my normal life despite the pain. After year of continuing to work out, attend conferences & business functions in heels, and just generally leading my busy life, things disintegrated to the point of me needing to use a wheelchair. Type-A personality plus a high pain tolerance hasn’t really done me any favors!
Once I finally DID get a diagnosis, my knees were in such bad shape that it’s taking a long time to get back to normal. My physiotherapist has me on an outpatient program that is getting results, but it’s disheartening to have such a long recovery time. In terms of my overall health, the effects of limited mobility have been pretty drastic. I know I’ll get back into shape once I regain all my knee function, but it’s hard when you can’t even walk normally, let alone work out. Physiotherapy is great for rebuilding function but it doesn’t do much of anything in terms of burning calories. I cannot wait until I regain my mobility and can hit the gym once again. Suffice to say, I will not be taking my chances on the stair machine again – I think I’ll stick to folding treadmills or a stationary bike! 😉
Oh my gosh, how horrible. I’m glad they figured out what was causing it so that you could prevent doing that again in the future.
Wow, that sounds super painful! Sounds like it will be a long recovery, hope it heals ok for you!
Hoping for a speedy recovery!! Treadmills and ellipticals are great for that ‘can’t wait to get back to the gym” period.
I was just thinking I need to get a treadmill. I hate the hills in our neighborhood for running but I really need to get some exercise!
That sounds super painful! I used to go to the gym often until I flew off the treadmill that malfunctioned one day. I was too embarrassed to go back for a while!
Just wanted to encourage you. I had a knee injury about 4 years ago and saw 3 Doctors and went to 3 different physical therapists. I felt like nobody knew what had truly happened or how it was going to improve. Two of the three Docs said surgery was not needed. Some people might be happy to hear that, but to me, that meant there was no solution to my problem.
But, over time it did improve. From time to time, I do have some knee pain, but, for the most part, my day to day life is the same as before the injury.
Thanks so much, everyone, for your kind and supportive comments. And Sharon, I’m so glad your knee injury is recovered for the most part. It really is encouraging to hear from others in the same boat.