So, coming down a mountain a few months ago, a rock dislodged and I fell slightly, twisting my knee. Next day it hurt like merry hell, but figured it would heal by itself.
Obviously not, so saw doc and had knee surgery two weeks ago. Stitches out last week and got some mild isometric & other exercises to do, but no reprieve from the pain yet. Walking makes it worse. So, guess kick boxing probably not a good idea.
Talked to doc again, and he said, “What the hell, at your age what do you expect?” Told me it would be 3-4 weeks more before could expect much progress.
What I expected was what I read about these basketball or football players to have knee surgery and a week later they are playing again.
Do you suppose it has anything to do with the fact that they are around 24, some three times younger than I?
When a professional athlete has knee surgery and returns to the field (I think it usually takes about three or four weeks, even in the fastest cases), it’s generally arthroscopic and minor. They might cut away some cartilege or clean up a little scar tissue from a previous surgery. They have a few pretty big advantages in their recovery.
First, as you mentioned, they’re 24. Young bodies heal better than older bodies do.
Second, they’re probably in better shape to begin with. A big part of the recovery from minor knee surgery is working the muscles around it back up to full strength. If the muscles are exceptionally strong to start with, it’s easier to get them working faster, and it’s easier to function relatively normally before the muscles are back to full strength. If they’re not that strong to start with, there’s a longer road to recovery.
Third, they’re rehabbing in the highest quality facilities, overseen by personal trainers and/or team training staff. For a professional athlete, rehabbing his knee is his job. He getsup in the morning and begins rehab. He doesn’t have to squeeze it in before or after work, or rush through it because he needs to go pick up the kids at 6:30. That’s the sole focus of his workday. And his rehab is a whole lot more aggressive than mild isometric and other exercises.
Finally, I’d bet the professional athletes who have knee surgery and return to the field in three weeks aren’t playing at full strength, and they aren’t playing without pain. They might have a shot of some kind of painkiller in the knee before the game and another at halftime if it’s bad. But professional athletes are used to playing through pain. As long as they’re not likely to reinjure themselves, they’ll tough it out. In some cases, they’ll tough it out farther than they should and do reinjure themselves.
Thanks, Enginerd for a very comprehensive treatise on the subject. Makes a lot of sense, hadn’t even thought bout some of those factors. For a geezer, I was in pretty good shape, climbing some mountain almost every day for more than 11 years as well as several 12-14,000 footers now and then.
Other than that, guess I have no comparasion to the pro athletes. And, I guess they do play in pain. Think I’ll avoid climbing in pain.
