WARNING: Before you scroll to the bottom there is a picture of my knee and it is not pretty so if you are at all squeamish, scroll down very slowly!
Some people have requested an update on how my knee rehab is going, and as it is such a common rugby injury, I thought that it may be useful to others who suffer the same pains as I do! So at key stages in the rehabilitation over the coming months, I will blog and let the masses know how everything is going, leading up to and including the big comeback! I won't do one every week as from now until playing could be 9 months and 36 blogs about the colour, shape and strength of my knee could be boring even without that many.
'So how did it all start?' I hear no one ask. Well, thinking I was Neil Back during a contact session, I looked snaffle the ball away from a opposition player after he was tackled. As I am so very fast, I got to the contact between our defender and their attacker too early, my studs caught in the ground and both their bodies landed on my locked in knee. Snap, crackle, pop.
Thanks to the efficiency of the NHS I only had to wait nine months for my Anterior Cruciate Ligament replacement using my own hamstring in March 2008. I did all the rehab to the letter, only for it to tear again when warming up for my first start at my new club, Tabard, in September 2010. Again, a short wait of another nine months and an exploratory surgery revealed it had not torn right through and was good to be played on in a couple of months. It was not. Coming on as a sub against Harpenden in November, it finally gave up. The coalitions health reforms had really come into their own by this time and I only had to wait eight and and a half months for the latest operation. This brings us bang up to date.
So, the current state of it is I'm in a leg brace that goes up to my pelvis. I have 4 sets to stitches, 2 big ones and 2 small ones where various cameras and instruments went in. I am 'partially weight bearing' which for normal people is fine but for a front row forward doesn't offer much compensation. I have 5 sets of exercises to do every day. The toughest one that I break into a cold sweat just thinking about is the leg raise, which is when I have to tense my leg and raise it 7 inches off the ground, hold for 5 seconds, then relax. I can feel my 'core' being engaged when I do this one and again as a front row forward, this is not something I am terribly comfortable with. I wish I had more to report on this front but it seems to be a simple case of getting it moving at the moment.
Exercise, ice, elevation, painkillers and anti-inflammatory pills are the basis of my routine. Throw in the entire Sky Anytime+ movie back catalogue and Modern Warfare 3 online, you can get the general impression of my existence currently. In fact, whilst typing this post I have Captain Corelli's Mandolin on, which is simply delightful.
I see the physio on Monday and will have a better grasp on time-scales then so stay tuned but I think 3 weeks is the next milestone. In the meantime, stay tuned and a big thanks to all those who have checked the blog out and been so supportive since its start. I am genuinely enjoying writing it and I hope you continue to enjoy reading it.
Some people have requested an update on how my knee rehab is going, and as it is such a common rugby injury, I thought that it may be useful to others who suffer the same pains as I do! So at key stages in the rehabilitation over the coming months, I will blog and let the masses know how everything is going, leading up to and including the big comeback! I won't do one every week as from now until playing could be 9 months and 36 blogs about the colour, shape and strength of my knee could be boring even without that many.
'So how did it all start?' I hear no one ask. Well, thinking I was Neil Back during a contact session, I looked snaffle the ball away from a opposition player after he was tackled. As I am so very fast, I got to the contact between our defender and their attacker too early, my studs caught in the ground and both their bodies landed on my locked in knee. Snap, crackle, pop.
Thanks to the efficiency of the NHS I only had to wait nine months for my Anterior Cruciate Ligament replacement using my own hamstring in March 2008. I did all the rehab to the letter, only for it to tear again when warming up for my first start at my new club, Tabard, in September 2010. Again, a short wait of another nine months and an exploratory surgery revealed it had not torn right through and was good to be played on in a couple of months. It was not. Coming on as a sub against Harpenden in November, it finally gave up. The coalitions health reforms had really come into their own by this time and I only had to wait eight and and a half months for the latest operation. This brings us bang up to date.
So, the current state of it is I'm in a leg brace that goes up to my pelvis. I have 4 sets to stitches, 2 big ones and 2 small ones where various cameras and instruments went in. I am 'partially weight bearing' which for normal people is fine but for a front row forward doesn't offer much compensation. I have 5 sets of exercises to do every day. The toughest one that I break into a cold sweat just thinking about is the leg raise, which is when I have to tense my leg and raise it 7 inches off the ground, hold for 5 seconds, then relax. I can feel my 'core' being engaged when I do this one and again as a front row forward, this is not something I am terribly comfortable with. I wish I had more to report on this front but it seems to be a simple case of getting it moving at the moment.
Exercise, ice, elevation, painkillers and anti-inflammatory pills are the basis of my routine. Throw in the entire Sky Anytime+ movie back catalogue and Modern Warfare 3 online, you can get the general impression of my existence currently. In fact, whilst typing this post I have Captain Corelli's Mandolin on, which is simply delightful.
I see the physio on Monday and will have a better grasp on time-scales then so stay tuned but I think 3 weeks is the next milestone. In the meantime, stay tuned and a big thanks to all those who have checked the blog out and been so supportive since its start. I am genuinely enjoying writing it and I hope you continue to enjoy reading it.
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