Well, got the MRI results
Well, got the MRI results from my knee today.
But first some History; Over 10 years ago, Sept 11 2001 to be exact (I was in the Ortho's office watching 9/11 as the second plane struck), I had my knee evaluated and it was determined I had Arthritis and a tear in the Medial Meniscus. I decided that I did not want to do anything and just let is lie while I started a running regimen.
For 6 years I battled knee swelling and pain and 4 years ago I again had some issues with the knee which drove me for another evaluation. Still the same tear but now I had a huge baker’s cyst behind the knee. This is when I started Barefoot/Minimalist running in an attempt to find a way to run comfortably and without further damage.
This has worked pretty well up until 2 months ago when I started having “Catching” and pain in the knee only this time it was on the outside, not the inside where the tear was located. I continued to train through the pain and determined that I would run and finish the 50 Miler. Well, we all know how well that worked out. I bombed at just over 50K
Today’s MRI shown no new damage and almost no arthritis. WHAT? The arthritis is cleaning itself up. That is pretty damn cool. There was however a small piece of cartilage broken loose and floating around. It is possible this piece comes from the old tear and was lodging itself on the outside lateral meniscus and causing the pain. Since I have not had any symptoms since the run it seems running the 50 miler either repositioned or squashed this lose cartilage and right now I am golden. BUT, this could all change tomorrow if the cartilage moves back into an area and starts causing pain again.
The doc wants to remove the torn piece, and clean up the existing tear. My concern is removing any cartilage seems bad and could increase arthritis but he seems to think that the tear and inflammation is an equal risk of arthritis. If I opt for the surgery, I should be riding a bike in a week and running in a month.
Decisions decisions
Well, got the MRI results from my knee today.
But first some History; Over 10 years ago, Sept 11 2001 to be exact (I was in the Ortho's office watching 9/11 as the second plane struck), I had my knee evaluated and it was determined I had Arthritis and a tear in the Medial Meniscus. I decided that I did not want to do anything and just let is lie while I started a running regimen.
For 6 years I battled knee swelling and pain and 4 years ago I again had some issues with the knee which drove me for another evaluation. Still the same tear but now I had a huge baker’s cyst behind the knee. This is when I started Barefoot/Minimalist running in an attempt to find a way to run comfortably and without further damage.
This has worked pretty well up until 2 months ago when I started having “Catching” and pain in the knee only this time it was on the outside, not the inside where the tear was located. I continued to train through the pain and determined that I would run and finish the 50 Miler. Well, we all know how well that worked out. I bombed at just over 50K
Today’s MRI shown no new damage and almost no arthritis. WHAT? The arthritis is cleaning itself up. That is pretty damn cool. There was however a small piece of cartilage broken loose and floating around. It is possible this piece comes from the old tear and was lodging itself on the outside lateral meniscus and causing the pain. Since I have not had any symptoms since the run it seems running the 50 miler either repositioned or squashed this lose cartilage and right now I am golden. BUT, this could all change tomorrow if the cartilage moves back into an area and starts causing pain again.
The doc wants to remove the torn piece, and clean up the existing tear. My concern is removing any cartilage seems bad and could increase arthritis but he seems to think that the tear and inflammation is an equal risk of arthritis. If I opt for the surgery, I should be riding a bike in a week and running in a month.
Decisions decisions
