Re: fighting knee injury

["marilyn wiese" <mwiese@earthling.net>]

> I've been fighting a knee strain since May when bad Karen Chaton
> made me trot and trot and trot and trot at Scott's Flat (I'm
> blaming her entirely. It's *obviously* her fault. She is a lousy
> mentor. Should be more responsible. Told me endurance would get
> better the more I did... she lied, etc...etc... ;-)  ).

I can't wait until both you and Karen start mentoring me in actual endurance
rides......   :)

> Anyway. First I was told by the doctor to baby it for a month.
> I "kind of" did this and it didn't help much.

You 'kind of' did this sounds like you really didn't do it  :)  (I never can
do what the doctor says, very well and without feeling extremely sorry for
myself :)

> You could try taking glucosamine/chondroitin and MSM (this is
> what I've just started, in despair of anything else working).
> You get to try and swallow lots of pessary sized pills every day.
> I'll let you know if it seems successful - I'm only a week or so
> into this experiment.

Is 'pessary' some kind of made up British word?  BTW, I have been taking
glucosamine/chondroitin for many years now and it really has helped to
lessen my hip, knee, and ankle problems........the reason I have these
problems is because over the years I have I run, lifted weights and ridden
my bike to stay healthy  :) and have incurred injuries along the way (mostly
from running).  The supplements do take time for you to notice a difference
so you need to stick with them.  I started on these supplements when my
little dog Brownie had very bad arthritis and needed to take them.  She went
from acting like an old decrepit dog to being her usual active, alert, agile
self again (and she is 16 years old now).

> You could try riding with a knee brace. This might help stop it
> getting more strained, but if it's already hurting then it prolly
> won't. I say this, because three weeks after Scott's Flat, Karen
> talked me into doing Camp Far West (see what a bad mentor she is??).

Doing a 50 three weeks after you injured your knee is not even remotely
'kind of' babying your knee for a month........ :)  On my first LD, I really
damaged my ankle..........I can't understand why it still hurt with I did my
second LD two weeks later  :)  I griped about it then too  :)

> You might consider going to a knee specialist and finding out about
> "really good knee exercises to strengthen your knee and make the
> pain miraculously go away".

Really and truly, altho I don't usually don't have the patience to stay off
an injury as long as the doctor tells me to do so (and I only go to sports
doctors so they understand that I emotionally can't stay off of it very
long), I do know for a fact that if you find out from a sports specialist,
what the best strength building exercises are for your injury, and if you do
these exercises faithfully, you will be able to make your injured part
stronger and possibly not have any where near the trouble you are having
now.  I know this from having knee, hip, shoulder, and ankle
injuries.........and strengthening the parts really does make a
difference........of course see your doctor first, follow his orders, etc
etc blah blah blah :)

mar (mentoree of Karen and Lucy)


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