Women — ugh (ha ha)
Tracy told me today she was “pulling rank” and I had to go see my local ortho-doc for an eval. 22 years of marriage. Gotta know when to fight and when to behave and obey.
So I went — really good doc and all-around nice guy.
Today is closing on 72 hours post-injury. He could see I have some swelling. Not a lot, but some. Explained what all happened which, for him, is like someone explaining to me what they ate yesterday — a walk in the park.
Anyway — he did all the standard physical manipulation tests to check the integrity of the ligaments etc. That made me VERY nervous because I was WAITING for him to find some “ouch.” Well, he didn’t.
He was like “You’ve got so much muscle protecting that knee — it’s very strong.” And after him coming to the same eventual conclusion I have which is that I had dislocated my patella (knee cap) even the tests he did for that showed the integrity of the surrounding tissue was strong, sound and just probably needs to heal. The mobility issues I have, which aren’t severe, are being caused by fluid/blood in the surrounding tissues which creates pressure and limits mobility.
He did help explain the illusion I had when it first popped back into place. I’m sure it’ll be hard for all of you to imagine (not) that my mind likes to know WHY things are what they are. He explained that my patella likely shifted laterally, not medially, when it dislocated, and when it shifted medially back into place this gave the illusion that my tibia rotated externally when it didn’t (that’s what it looked like). This will make no sense to 99% of you and don’t feel bad about it. I just like knowing why and I got my answer.
Anyway — he said too that even with the jump and land I did that had I been on a flat, dry surface rather than grass the muscle probably would have held everything in place. But he said that with me being on the very unstable surface of grass that I likely slipped when I landed and that shearing, lateral force was what likely ended up being too much.
I have to say. I feel pretty good about it all. It’s about time this damn muscle mattered more than just being for looks. 🙂 Now I have more good news to share with my girls about strength training!