Knee-pocalypse Ow!

Having written that I rarely have problems with my knees, I managed to do a number on myself last September when digging in hard-packed earth. The area had been used for parking cars for years which apparently is the equivalent to a good steam-rolling session. This happened a couple of weeks before a powerlifting competition and I blame it for my disappointing squat performance in that event.

The immediate lesson of course is that I should have broken the ground up with a pickaxe first rather than diving straight in like an over-enthusiastic teenager. I think that lesson will stick, at least with respect to gardening, although I hope I never totally abandon teenage enthusiasm 🙂

As soon as I realized I had a problem, I went to a physiotherapist who, on a previous visit, had immediately and permanently fixed a long-term shoulder issue from a 2018 bout of overenthusiasm (yes, there is a pattern forming here…)

His initial assessment was that gap between my knee cap and tibia was too narrow causing friction, inflammation and pain (I am not entirely clear what he exactly said, but the gist is correct.) He had me sit on the end of the massage table with legs hanging down and pulled down on my ankle while moving the foot slowly backward and forward.

I could visualize how digging in hard packed earth could press my tibia into my knee cap, so was happy to experiment with this remedy a bit. I replicated the movement fairly easily at home by wearing a 2KG ankle weight and slowly swinging my foot. Unfortunately it did not solve the problem and I was back a few weeks later.

Second time around, he decided that my quads were too tight and that this was pull the knee cap up. The immediate remedy was to foam roll and massage the quads. This did seem to help although it took a long time for the inflammation and pain to fully subside. After 10 weeks, I was feeling OK and went for a slow 4K trail run.

Unfortunately this proved too much for my healing tissues and I was back to square one, ultimately with a six month pause in running. I continued to stretch my quads by sitting on one leg at a time on a bench, allowing me to control how much weight I apply on the knee. The pause in running has been deleterious for my body weight, cardiovascular health and overall mobility.

In my April ’24 powerlifting competition, I reduced my squat weight, but again failed two of the lifts due to missing squat depth. Looking at the competition photos, I can see that I do indeed miss depth even after spending half a year practicing. So I am now completely retraining my squat and went all the way back to 80KG where I am carefully and deliberately performing full-depth “Ass To Grass” squats. I don’t know how long it will take to build this up to 170KG but it cannot be rushed; I am missing strength (and confidence) at the end range of motion which can only be fixed through continual, focused training.

The critical cue is that my hamstrings are touching my calves – I cannot go deeper. This is clearly not the case in my competition squats. It is also interesting that in the picture, my feet are not really wider than my shoulders – considered to be good form, but without that front photo I thought that I was going too wide.

The April competition was interesting, not only for the excellent photography, but to watch the other lifters warming up. There were resistance bands, foam rollers and Theraguns aplenty. The Viking honored as best overall lifter was warming up next to me, and I watched him start with light resistance bands and foam rolling; so much for my theory that lifters don’t train much for mobility! As always it is interesting to see how guys get themselves psyched up for the heavy lifts. Chalk, and hard back slapping is common – I’ve done it; the trick is to get slapped hard enough to trigger an adrenaline response without actually hurting yourself. Only to be attempted with people you know and trust on the day, but try it if you want to really experience a moment of mental clarity and focus!

Smelling salts are also a popular choice and some people were sharing their more exotic options. I have heard of wolf urine to keep deer off of your property, but bear urine for focus was a new one on me! I don’t experiment with new tricks during a competition, so have not actually tested this and make no claims for its efficacy. But you have to wonder how they collect it. I mean, am I the only one imagining a farmer running after a bear with a bucket? Hopefully a farmer who is also a champion sprinter when the bear decides his privacy has been invaded too often. Just saying…

This will be my last injury-related post for a while. Having spent a year now talking about recovering from various ailments, I want to move on to more positive topics (nutrition, longevity, stupid pet tricks…) I think that focusing on injury exclusively promotes a damaged mindset that is counterproductive. But I want to end the theme with some closing thoughts…

Injuries usually result from an act of stupidity. In my case this is generally because I am in a hurry, attempting to multitask, or have just not thought through the possible outcomes of a course of action. You cannot control the stupidity of others, but you can control their proximity to you.

I was recently experimenting with cable tricep extensions using a band to target the end range, when the band snapped and caught the edge of my eye. No real damage done but could have been very nasty and was completely avoidable with a different set up. I know resistance bands age and snap. I will not have one of them close to my face again. There is always a safer alternative. Taking the time to think is part of being safe – and a few minutes spent up front on a new setup is much, much better than an extended period of recovery.