Monday, February 08, 2010

The Knee - Good news, bad news

I saw the knee specialist this afternoon and there is no sign of any internal damage to the knee. Which is good. In fact, in spite of my concerns with all the hits the knees have taken there is also no sign of arthritis, also good.

But the pain is still there and there is still some swelling, although neither are as bad as they were. His conclusion is that it is tendon damage that will just take additional time to heal. He thought that one of my falls happened to hit in exactly the wrong place. His only remedy would be to prescribe physical therapy but instead we decided we would just go with trying to stretch it out myself.

So there is no need for anything beyond stretching although it will continue to be painful for a while. fortunately it doesn't bother me much while riding. The reason it hurts most after sitting is because the tendon is shortened in that position and then is elongated when first standing up. It is the initial stretching that hurts, then it subsides.

I can begin planning my 2010 race calendar now since there don't appear to be any limitations other than time, money and ability. Not that has ever stopped me before.

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