So, as much as it makes me crazy I have been a good little girl and sat out pretty much all the drills lately as I am not allowed to do contract yet or anything that may cause a fall.
Yes, I know that I can't put weight on my knee while it's bent yet. Yes, I know I can't even take a knee safely yet. Yes, I know that I can't fall small enough to not be a danger to the other girls yet. And yes, I know that in time it will come and this is only temporary...but it still sucks to miss out on some of the fun (and drills I really need to learn).
The silver lining I am sticking to is that my crossovers are going to be fierce when I get back in. And I am starting to concentrate on my starts and my sprints. And Lord knows I need all the endurance work I can get my hands on (especially after a month off skates) so the constant lapping is good for me.
Oh, and the money we're getting from Aflac for my physical therapy is going to buy me new skates, pads, and gaskets. So that rocks.
But I still wanna hit people! And right now Coach has the girls really focusing on footwork, positional blocking, and partnering strategies. I am absorbing as much as I can from the outside but I am really itching to get in there and try it out firsthand.
So, it comes towards the end of practice and Coach has the girls start doing some pack drills...and they are working on one where you gotta pull yourself up through the pack keeping all eight on the floor. At first I told Coach that I should sit it out because I'm supposed to avoid anything that has a fall risk (Hell, my ortho wasn't really comfortable green lighting my skating yet at all but I talked her into it). But then I watched them make one go round and jumped in.
Coach sent every girl around me to the front one at a time, I got the sense he was timid about sending me up until we were near the end of the drill to keep me safe. But he did finally call me out and I made it up to the front with no issues. Well, apparently Lyte 'Em Up was following me up through the pack and I hadn't realized it. I had no sooner gotten up and plowed back to pack pace when she grabbed my hips to whip in front of me.
Totally not expecting that. And down I went.
I spun around 180 degrees and totally whiffed. I went down flat. According to Smash it was a graceful and small sprawl that was easy for the girls behind me to avoid. I was instantly scared I was going to cause a pile-up behind me and hurt someone because I kept my legs straight for fear of bashing my knees (still using the old pads and since I wear them over my brace I am unsure of what type of protection they offer for my bad knee). I tried my best to get out of the way of the pack and back up as quickly as I could then went to skate the outside and do a damage assessment. No pain at all, which was both surprising and awesome since moving my knee certain ways around the house causes furious pain. I guess my brace does serve a purpose other than causing my calf to cramp after all.
Lyte 'Em Up felt bad about it, she hadn't realized it was me from behind...not that she really should have. Actually I feel like a complete douche for not having myself planted enough to have given the hip whip...lesson learned: ALWAYS be fully aware of what your pack mates are doing.
I'm really glad I fell though. It scared the shit out of me since I expected massive amounts of pain to follow...and there was none. So now I can go to practice Tuesday with less trepidation knowing that while I can't fall small enough to be safe in a large pack, I can join in on some of the smaller group drills and know that even if I fall I'll be fine. So, thanks for taking my ass down, Lyte 'Em Up! (:
Friday, July 22, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
I'm back..!
Got the all clear from both the ortho and my physical therapist to get back on skates...woot woot!
Of course, I am only to lap and do non-contact, low fall risk drills for a month or so...but I'll take it! Oh, and I am supposed to wear my damn...I mean expensive...oops I mean wonderful brace. Thankfully I no longer have to sport the bionic look in my day to day but I suppose I can understand, even if begrudgingly, the sensibility of wearing it while on skates to keep me from hyper-flexing on a fall and tearing my ACL. Of course, I highly doubt that it's that much of a risk since falling forward (as we're drilled to do in derby) is not risky in that way but you never do know when you might do something stupid and go windmilling backwards even if you're not supposed to. I will be a good girl and wear it for the next week or so but probably not much more beyond that though.
So...back to practice yesterday. It. Felt. So. GOOD!
Man, I missed skating!
I was very pleased to note that even with the jacked knee and restrictive brace I could still lap just fine and even still do my crossovers (a new skill that I did not seem to lose while laid up...yes!). It was even nicer to note that none of the motions of skating caused me any pain. As a matter of fact, with the exception of my notoriously weak ankles complaining a bit, I was not in any pain at all.
I mostly did laps as I am not cleared for contact yet but I did join in on one drill that involved some feet stomping...very minimal discomfort but still no pain there. I briefly considered joining in on a little sprint drill/game that Coach concocted that was similar to Heads Up Seven Up (remember that little blast from elementary school??) where we all took a knee in a group and closed our eyes until Coach blew the whistle then we had to pop up fast, find him, sprint to him, then sprint back to the start and take a knee as fast as we could. I could not quite seem to figure out how to get down to a knee gracefully and more or less fell onto my hip to sit in the circle and when the first whistle blew I finagled my way back to standing and let Coach know I was not going to participate...Yertle the Turtle would not do well in that game and I was even slower than him at getting up and down! So I did more laps and some one leg glides.
After about an hour into practice I got the bright idea, since all was going just so darn swimmingly, to go off to the side and see if I could take a knee with some amount of grace and agility. Oh...if only I had a time machine...
That did not go well at all.
My brilliant mind reasoned that I should be able to get down onto my left knee if I took my time. I thought that:
POP goes the knee and down we go. Whee!
The pain I get in my knee when I do something stupid is like banging your elbow at maximum speed into a metal table. It doesn't necessarily hurt for a long time but it hurts like a mother trucker, alright.
I decided that I was now done for the day and took my skates off then and there. Then I took my walk of shame over to the sidelines where WeEvil was chilling (she didn't feel well enough to skate) and being so kind as to keep Laura (who will be joining me on Thursdays for the duration of Ben's soccer season) company. Lucky for me I was smart enough to bring a cooler of ice with me so I iced my knee right away.
So there you have it...my first practice back.
Am I regretting it today? Physically, yes. Mentally, no. It was sheer bliss...up until that stupid choice thing, that is. My knees are pretty jacked today (even my "good" knee which has a strained "fold" from the awkward gait I had wearing the brace). My bad knee is feeling pretty fluid filled today. Luckily I had a PT appointment this morning and Ann gave me a pretty good rub-down and an ultra sound treatment to bring down some of the inflammation. I probably should not have pushed it so much during PT today as well but dammit I just want to get strong enough to move forward from this.
But, the good news here is that even though I pulled a dumbass move yesterday my range of motion had improved by 5 degrees from last week meaning that I only have 5 more degrees to regain before I have full range of motion again. (:
I'll lay low over the weekend so I can get back at it on Tuesday. And Ann said she would make sure that between she, Brian, and Karin (my awesome PT crew) we will work on getting me back to the point where I can get down and up on my knees. She also reminded me that in a week or two I can try taking a knee again...this time going down onto my right, which is much more sensible. Yes, Ma'am.
Of course, I am only to lap and do non-contact, low fall risk drills for a month or so...but I'll take it! Oh, and I am supposed to wear my damn...I mean expensive...oops I mean wonderful brace. Thankfully I no longer have to sport the bionic look in my day to day but I suppose I can understand, even if begrudgingly, the sensibility of wearing it while on skates to keep me from hyper-flexing on a fall and tearing my ACL. Of course, I highly doubt that it's that much of a risk since falling forward (as we're drilled to do in derby) is not risky in that way but you never do know when you might do something stupid and go windmilling backwards even if you're not supposed to. I will be a good girl and wear it for the next week or so but probably not much more beyond that though.
So...back to practice yesterday. It. Felt. So. GOOD!
Man, I missed skating!
I was very pleased to note that even with the jacked knee and restrictive brace I could still lap just fine and even still do my crossovers (a new skill that I did not seem to lose while laid up...yes!). It was even nicer to note that none of the motions of skating caused me any pain. As a matter of fact, with the exception of my notoriously weak ankles complaining a bit, I was not in any pain at all.
I mostly did laps as I am not cleared for contact yet but I did join in on one drill that involved some feet stomping...very minimal discomfort but still no pain there. I briefly considered joining in on a little sprint drill/game that Coach concocted that was similar to Heads Up Seven Up (remember that little blast from elementary school??) where we all took a knee in a group and closed our eyes until Coach blew the whistle then we had to pop up fast, find him, sprint to him, then sprint back to the start and take a knee as fast as we could. I could not quite seem to figure out how to get down to a knee gracefully and more or less fell onto my hip to sit in the circle and when the first whistle blew I finagled my way back to standing and let Coach know I was not going to participate...Yertle the Turtle would not do well in that game and I was even slower than him at getting up and down! So I did more laps and some one leg glides.
After about an hour into practice I got the bright idea, since all was going just so darn swimmingly, to go off to the side and see if I could take a knee with some amount of grace and agility. Oh...if only I had a time machine...
That did not go well at all.
My brilliant mind reasoned that I should be able to get down onto my left knee if I took my time. I thought that:
- My right knee was damaged so it made sense to go down onto the left.
- I had been able to do one legged presses, squats, and lunges during therapy sessions so I still had the quad strength to do it.
- What could go wrong?
- I was wearing a restrictive metal brace on my right leg that would impede it's ability to bend in such a fashion as to get my left leg to the ground properly.
- I did not yet have full range of motion in the right knee.
- Everything could go wrong!
POP goes the knee and down we go. Whee!
The pain I get in my knee when I do something stupid is like banging your elbow at maximum speed into a metal table. It doesn't necessarily hurt for a long time but it hurts like a mother trucker, alright.
I decided that I was now done for the day and took my skates off then and there. Then I took my walk of shame over to the sidelines where WeEvil was chilling (she didn't feel well enough to skate) and being so kind as to keep Laura (who will be joining me on Thursdays for the duration of Ben's soccer season) company. Lucky for me I was smart enough to bring a cooler of ice with me so I iced my knee right away.
So there you have it...my first practice back.
Am I regretting it today? Physically, yes. Mentally, no. It was sheer bliss...up until that stupid choice thing, that is. My knees are pretty jacked today (even my "good" knee which has a strained "fold" from the awkward gait I had wearing the brace). My bad knee is feeling pretty fluid filled today. Luckily I had a PT appointment this morning and Ann gave me a pretty good rub-down and an ultra sound treatment to bring down some of the inflammation. I probably should not have pushed it so much during PT today as well but dammit I just want to get strong enough to move forward from this.
But, the good news here is that even though I pulled a dumbass move yesterday my range of motion had improved by 5 degrees from last week meaning that I only have 5 more degrees to regain before I have full range of motion again. (:
I'll lay low over the weekend so I can get back at it on Tuesday. And Ann said she would make sure that between she, Brian, and Karin (my awesome PT crew) we will work on getting me back to the point where I can get down and up on my knees. She also reminded me that in a week or two I can try taking a knee again...this time going down onto my right, which is much more sensible. Yes, Ma'am.
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