A Bump in the Road (16 months)

Picture from http://www.realbodywork.com/learn/knee/vastlat.htm

Well, I was right.  I have iliotibial (IT) band tendinitis in both legs. (The white band going from the hip to the knee in the picture is the IT band.) We are going to try physical therapy first, and if that alone doesn't work, I'll need some cortisone.  I have been in physical therapy for 8 days, and I can already see significant progress. As sad as I am about this step backwards, I'm pretty sure that I am going to be better off when it is resolved.  The stiffness I have had all along in my left knee is WAY better.  It has improved so much just from using The Stick (see previous post) that I feel encouraged that I may actually return to working in my yard again some day or getting up and down off the floor with future grandkids. 

Leg extension

In discussing this with my doctor, this IT band problem should not be a recurring problem, but one that I will be proactive with with stretching to prevent it from happening.  Looking back on it, because this problem developed so insidiously, it has probably been going on for months and I just thought my healing process was slow.  Guess I'll never know if that's true, but I really do think I will come out better on the other side.  When asking my doctor about the machines I do for strength, he said he didn't think anyone should do the leg extension. So I've scratched it off my list.

I'm back on the stationary bicycle, but building up has been slow.  I rode for 6 minutes the first day, and every minute hurt.  Tried 10 minutes next, and the first 6 minutes hurt.  Slowly built up to 30 minutes and I hurt the rest of the evening, so 30 minutes at one time was too much.  Two sets of 15 minutes was tolerable, and so it goes. I am currently at 25 minutes and the RPMs are steadily increasing to my former ability.  It is frustrating to know how much strength and endurance I am losing, but I am trying to stay positive. It grosses me out to think that by the time I get back on my bike, it will be hot and humid and I will require huge motivation to get going! As I have titled this post, I am optimistic that this is just another bump in the road.