Second visit to the Physical Therapist

Made my second trip to the therapist this morning for a progress review on my ailing knee. Flexibility seems to have improved overall, but still fairly tight. I'm still experiencing pain in the same place as before, and during the same activities, so it looks like I'm still pretty far from being cleared to run again. Today we added a series of strengthening exercises to the stretching exercises, so now I'll be doing therapy 3x daily. Hard to find time to get it all done, but I'll figure it out.

In addition to the stretching and strengthening, I'll be taping my kneecap for the next week to try and force a slight change in alignment, and stretch some of the connectors from the IT Band to the kneecap. It’s a pretty simple x-shaped tape job across the kneecap, pulling it slightly towards the inner part of the knee. I’ve got some pretty ‘wooly’ legs, so taking the tape off should be vaguely reminiscent of Steve Carrell in The 40 Year Old Virgin. Kelly Clarkson!!

Planning to start resuming aerobic activity tomorrow morning, as long as it’s not causing me any pain. No running on the horizon yet, but I should be able to bike and do some elliptical work. Got my yoga DVD in the mail as well, so that should be starting fairly soon. My newly revised plan/wish, so I can try and contain my frustration level, is to resume running once we get into May. That’s not based on anything I’ve been told, or any sort of progress I’m seeing, but it helps me stay focused on a short-term goal, and helps remind me that I’ve still got 6.5 months from the start of May to train for my next marathon, which should be plenty of time. Gotta stay positive.