Sunday, October 04, 2009

Jinxed Knees

Wednesday when I got home from my hill workout, my husband asked how my knees are doing, and I confidently said they are great! The next day, when squatting down to reach a low file cabinet drawer, I could feel my right knee cap shift and pain shoot through it. Argh! My husband jinxed me!

The thing is, I have been walking regularly and my legs are strong! I can see the muscle. On top of that, my left knee started swelling in sympathy. This should not have happened.

Long before I was an athlete, my doctor diagnosed me with what he called "girl knees." Basically, a woman's hips are wider than her knees which puts a strain on the joint and can lead to injuries. As long as I keep the muscles around my knees strong, the knee caps align and they don't get sore or swollen. Easy!

Regular fitness walking is not enough. I need to be in the midst of race training with increasing mileage to maintain muscle strength. Short of that, I need to do regular knee-strengthening exercises, which I'm not very good at doing. I'm in the midst of race training, preparing for my third half marathon in 8 weeks. This shouldn't be happening.

So the moral of the story is -- don't let anyone ask about your knees! In the meantime, ice and Iburpofen are my friends.

2 comments:

Nyle said...

thats it...hubby is banned from commenting on any of your body parts...... lol .... but I know what you mean....everything is going great until someones asks a random question and you think "hmmm how does it feel? and the next thing you know its hurting lol"

Cindi said...

I told him he is not allowed to discuss my knees ever again! They aren't all that sore, but they are still a little swollen. I hate this. But, I love ice!