Arrrgh!!!

Have you ever really considered just how you use your knees?

I mean, we all would say that we walk, and we sit, and we rise, and we squat. But have you ever given any thought to the other way you use your knees?

My right knee is almost healed from the medial collateral ligament sprain that I developed June 10th. I hobbled around for nine days, and then went to see my doc, who sent me on to an Orthopedic specialist. The physician's assistant prescribed three weeks of immobilizing my knee, along with frequent treatment with ice (in my case, with a bag of peas), and Advil for pain control. About two weeks short of the three month anniversary I saw the orthopedic doc, who arranged for x-rays. He told me that this type of sprain usually takes about five months to heal. I'm on the fast track, apparently, but I'm still trying to be cautious, so that I don't have any relapses this far into my recovery.

So back to how we use our knees....

As I said, I'm trying to be cautious, but I find myself returning to old habits that can't be good. We have two drawers below the cook-top that have the type of shelf that slides out. Mine are loaded with heavy cooking bowls, and Corning ware. I find myself wanting to push those drawers in with my knee.

Across from those drawers is the dishwasher. I discovered that I close its door by turning my back to the unit, hooking my foot under the door and doing a hamstring lift to bring the door up into place.

I used to use my toes to brush things to the right or left. You know....kicking a branch out of the way, or pushing one ice cube toward another on the floor, so you only have to bend once to pick them up.

I'm going to have to unlearn ALL those clever little movements. It's time to bend again, and let my knees get back to good health.

I'm happy to say that I can do about 95% of the exercises at our exercise class. That's not to say that I don't feel it the next day, but it's not the kind of pain that says, "STOP!" And, sleeping on my left side is getting easier. It may be a while until I can sleep on my right side (the damaged knee side), but I can sleep through the night now, and I consider that a major improvement.

Pay attention to how you use YOUR knees. I bet you find some habits that need to be ditched!