Let’s Get Physical (Therapy)

So as I’ve mentioned before, my knees suck. So I have basically stopped running in an effort to help save them.  I’ve gone to the chiropractor and acupuncture and all of that definitely helped but they still hurt.  In the back of my mind I kept telling myself I needed to go back to physical therapy because that was the only thing that really seemed to help them (well that and that I actually did the homework exercises they told me to do).  Anyway, I knew I needed to do it but still kept putting if off, thinking with enough rest they might make a comeback.  But then I got asked to be on a Hood to Coast team again.

After last years HTC I swore I was not going to do it again.  It was so painful.  But there’s just something about that crazy race that sucks you in.  And this year would be my 5th year.  Doesn’t it feel so much better to retire after the 5th time than the 4th?  It just has a better ring to it.  Plus, this year the team is just a group of people doing it for fun.  Unlike past years where our team was actually pretty good and I felt pressure to speed through my runs.  So I said yes.  That I’m in.  That somehow I’m going to find a way to run this bad boy again.  So I headed back to physical therapy.

Last night was night number 1.  I’m going to the same overall PT company but at a different location.  Last year I was referred to one about 20 min away and because Chris and I carpool it was always challenging to figure out how to get there at a time that worked for both of us.  This time I switched to one 2 min from my house which will make coordination much easier. No new surprises from where I was last year.  My hips are rotated which puts pressure on my knees blah, blah, blah.  Oh and my left knee cap doesn’t track correctly. Gross.  And part of my homework is to sit and manually move my knee cap up and down.  Double gross.  She wants to see my twice a week for a month and then re-evaluate things.  In the meantime, no pilates reformer (she feels my hips are too weak to do that right now), no running, no elliptical, no zumba.  Basically nothing that causes me pain.  So looks like I’ll be riding the bike, rowing, lifting weights and mat pilates.   Totally sucks but if it makes me able to run then I’m all for it.

Here are a few of my homework exercises to strengthen my hips and glutes:

The clam

Side leg raises