A couple of months on - time flies when you’re having 'fun' - so time for another quick update.
By the time my next physio appointment came round, I was still pretty fed up and it was obvious so my physio took pity on me and decided to just release my ITB (‘gosh, it is tight, isn’t it?’) then encouraged me to stop the physio for a while and just try to get some ‘normality’ back for a few weeks at the gym instead: Sign up for a few classes, explain the situation to the instructor so you can adapt as needed, just go and have some fun, what did you enjoy doing before the injuries?
Hmmm, good question. I’m sure I’ve said this before but, having spent much of the last 14 years either rehabbing the knee or managing fitness in pregnancy/recovering and trying to get fit postnatally, I really don’t know the answer to that question any more. The focus has always been rehab/regaining fitness/trying to lose weight /op prehab - fun hasn’t really come into it. What is that again?
If I’m honest, group classes aren’t usually my definition of fun - I much prefer sticking on the headphones and doing my own, antisocial workout where I don’t have to engage with ‘other people’ and can choose my own music to suit my mood - but off I headed, ready to peruse the extensive list of group classes at my gym in the hope that a change of scenery would be good for my head if nothing else.
Then, when I got home, I spotted the trampoline we recently bought for the kids in the back garden….. hmmmmm! I’m an ex-gymnast. I switched to trampolining when my unstable knee forced me out of competitive artistic gymnastics and loved it. The softer landings didn’t seem to bother the knee in the same way and I could still fly. Heck, I even competed at nationals with what I now know was a torn ACL and had just started trampolining again when I discovered I was pregnant with the eldest. That’s probably the closest I have to an answer for the ‘what did you used to enjoy’ question and now we actually have a large, rectangular, bouncy-enough-to-do-proper-flips trampoline in the back garden. I wonder…
Even though I was sure I knew what the answer would be, don’t ask, don’t get, right? So a quick call to physio that afternoon gave me a definitive ‘no’ in response but the seed had been sown…
Anyway, the following week, I signed up to a few classes at the gym: Spirit (a yoga/pilates fusion); BodyPump; and Ignite Strike. I’ve never seen an instructor look so horrified as the Spirit instructor did when I explained the situation at the start of the class 😂 but I got through that one unscathed, even if I still don’t have the patience for those particular ‘art forms’.
Next up was Ignite Strike - a mixture of martial-arts-inspired moves that can be high or low impact to suit and reminded me of my Tae Bo days. I genuinely enjoyed that one - nothing like punching it out, right? - and while it definitely showed up some weaknesses and lack of rebound in my leg, it turned out that I was fitter than I thought, so that felt like a win.
Finally, a return to BodyPump. I deliberately went for really light weights to ease myself back into that one and the knee held up pretty well. I could definitely feel it tugging a bit in the squat track but the lunges were a lot better than I expected so something to build on.
With more variety in the mix, I also did a couple of ‘physio focussed’ days: 30 mins bike or run:walk; followed by 30 mins weights/proprioception, and it felt like much less of a chore than it had been.
And then, midway through the second week, THIS finally happened ⬇️⬇️⬇️ 🎉
Finally, some progress!!
So where does breaking the rules come in? You didn’t really think I was going to leave that trampoline alone, did you?
On the basis that I know what I’m doing and wasn’t mad enough to try any flips or tricks, I crept on while the kids were out one evening and just gently bobbed up and down a few times on my feet. No real height, not turning, just lightly leaving the trampoline bed and landing again to get the sense of movement back. A hint of freedom.
Sitting on the bed had already shown me that seat drops would be a no go for now (I could feel the knee trying to hyper extend when it moved up and down) but back drops to back bounce (not brave enough to return to feet) were okay and gave me some good abs exercise too.
Then International Handstand Day came around.
I haven’t missed one of these in eight years and to do so now would be admitting defeat, right?
Bouncing on hands and knees is not the most comfortable with the HTO plate (probably indicative that I’ll ultimately opt to have it removed), but I gave it a go and, while it wasn’t to vertical this time, I reckon it still counts.
I refuse to simply give up and age gracefully but, as my arms collapsed on the second attempt and I crunched my neck, my sensible head prevailed for once and I decided to quit while I was ahead, for now… I’m definitely not in the market for any new injuries!
It was fun though. Sometimes you just gotta break dem rules!
So, new goals for 2025: Regain overhead strength to hold handstand shape and kick up to vertical for IHD 2025.
Comments