This is my first blog ever and today it is two weeks left (www.goteborgsvarvet/goteborgsvarvet/en). This is a half marathon that I hope to complete!
But we may need to get back in history, to June 1999. I was at a party (after work) and we were dancing a lot! I probably did overestimate my own capability as a jitterbug dancer because during one of the swings I slipped on the floor and ended up with my female dance partner there including my right leg in an awkard fashion. The music stopped and someone pointed at my leg and shouted - Are you hurt! I said - No, and then immediately I relocated my knee(reflex behaviour ?). For those of you who is more interested in what a knee dislocation is, see http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic145.htm containing photographies (Pic. 3) showing that I suffered a lateral dislocation. Someone called for ambulance and then I left the party. At the hospital they could verify that three ligaments (ACL, PCL and MCL) were torn including total rupture of the knee joint capsule. I was lucky, because at this hospital (Östra hospital, http://sahlgrenska.se/vgrtemplates/Page____27536.aspx) you could find the best Swedish orthopedic surgeons (one of them that were involved in my case was the team physician for England National Soccer team in last year´s World Championship). They put the knife in my knee and put all ligaments back together again and stitched me up. The prognosis was not very good, "we´ll never know if you can walk again". I had external fixation for three months and after this I actually learned to walk again. I was lucky again, because I was sent to Gothenburgh Medical Center (www.medical.se/) for rehab. My physiotherapist cheered me up "we´ll get you back to normal functions again, just do exactly as I say!" So I did - for another six months and found out she was right. I managed to get back to full flexion of my knee but the knee joint was (and still is) quite unstable. My orthopedist convinced me that there was no need to implant or reconstruct my crucial ligaments and if I did then the prognosis may not become any better. My option was to keep on training and exercising, to get knee stability from my muscles, especially the quadriceps (thigh front muscles).
At that time I started running and after one year I was doing 8 km rounds. But then my knee started to pain, so I gave up running. Since this is my favorite exercise (together with weight training at the gym) I started to feel a little pessimistic about my future physical condition. I gained weight and in 2005 I decided to try to start running again (including a weight loss) and I managed to complete the quarter marathon (www.emloppet.se) but I suffered some knee pain. I have kept on running since then and early this year I decided to aim for a half marathon.
I will keep posting the progress of my training until 12 May and then go on with future goals. I hope that this blog will serve as inspiration for other active people with an interest in physical exercises, whether or not you have suffered any knee injury!
