Exercise & Fitness VII

[ztemhead]

when I had my ACL surgery, I had one of those ice-pack machines. It's like a cooler full of ice water attached to this pad you strap around the knee which continually pumps all around the joint. I kept it for a couple years afterwards.

lately I've been splitting up leg exercises into right leg/ left leg, trying to work on balancing them both out. It adds more time to the routine, but should pay off down the road.

[ljkeane]

when I had my ACL surgery, I had one of those ice-pack machines. It's like a cooler full of ice water attached to this pad you strap around the knee which continually pumps all around the joint. I kept it for a couple years afterwards.

How long was your recovery time after your ACL surgery? I've got to have it and I'm hearing that it can be about 9 months which will be a pain in the arse.

In terms of doing exercise for various reasons my knee surgery will be a bit later than I thought it was going to be so it looks like I'm going to be able to get in a few games of ruggah this year. :thumbsup:

On the down side because I thought I wasn't going to be playing this season I haven't bothered doing anything this summer until I went to training on Tuesday, Jesus Christ I'm unfit.

[ztemhead]

I had mine about six years ago. The thing is, I did rehab, but just to the point where I was functional again, without any of the fine tuning stuff I really needed. So now the graft is strong as anything and the doc said that I'll break the bone before I'll tear the ligament, but I have issues with how the muscles got back together. My right foot points out. I have lousy balance on that leg, and it's not as strong as the left leg.

If memory serves, I was up and walking on crutches in four days, hobbling around without them in a couple weeks, and doing light workouts after a month. If you're diligent with the rehab, I bet you can be back to 100% in six months.

Interesting to hear you say you can still do sports with a ruptured ACL. There was no way I could when I tore mine.

[ljkeane]

Interesting to hear you say you can still do sports with a ruptured ACL. There was no way I could when I tore mine.

The doctor said it was fairly stable as torn ACL's go, my knee has a bit of a tendency to give way on me occasionally and I can't really do as much as I'd like but I can still get by. I'm surprised you couldn't play any sports at all, my doctor said that a lot of people that don't play sports a lot can function fine with a torn ACL. :dunno:

[ztemhead]

I remember what I wanted to post today, but forgot.

Yesterday at the ***Disco Gym*** (that being one branch of my gym in the college part of town where there's a DJ spinning hip hop all evening) I witnessed one of the trainers and her trainee doing Romanian deadlifts. The guy was firmly in the obese category, and was arching his back something fierce as he lowered the bar to the floor. My own back was aching in sympathy just looking at him. I considered for a minute going over there and asking if she was trying to mess this cat up, or just make it uncomfortable for him sitting at his desk in the office tommorrow, but it didn't look like enough weight to really hurt him bad, and besides, it's more likely she knows what she's doing and I should mind my own business.

But still, with all the work I've put in trying to correct that problem in my own form, it made me cringe a bit.

Did another summertime sweat-run just now. :ack:

[Whitestripe]

Rant ahead: I'm *FINALLY* out of that $&%& cast, but my foot still hurts, so very little gym activity for me. PISSER. I just want to have healthy bones. (See, I've broken more than my fair share of bones in my short time on earth.)

[cjfshaw]

Maybe someone can answer this for me, why do core workouts help runners so much? I've always been told to do them and I've done them, but never knew the reason behind it.

[Greywolf2375]

missed the Weds workout because the bastard had an asthma episode, so we doubled up yesterday. Tri's and bi's. yeah...could not lift my arms above my head, felt great!

Oh, and as a personal request, if we could avoid making any references to how swimming is a great workout for a little while, that'd be great. Take a gander at the girlfriend and her best friend thread for the reason.

[Vestrit]

Maybe someone can answer this for me, why do core workouts help runners so much? I've always been told to do them and I've done them, but never knew the reason behind it.

more power and efficiency

[Xray the Enforcer]

Mostly an upper body day today. I saw my trainer this AM -- he was in there doing his own workout -- and we had a good chuckle about my sore ass. :lol: I graduated up a level on chest presses already, so that made me happy.

Anyhoo, I can tell that my mood is markedly improving ever since I went back to the gym. No more creeping mild depression, thank the gods. Still surly, though. ;)

[seastarr]

more power and efficiency

I bow down before you, that you can express the answer in four words!

But I still want to elaborate!

The thing is, a core workout is only going to help you if it is an informed core workout. You could do crunches for hours and not get very much out of it as a runner if you don't know how to do them well, or if you didn't do anything else to train your trunk.

The main point of working out the muscles of the trunk at first is to learn stability around the spine. This means being able to feel where your pelvis, ribcage, and shoulder girdle are in space, and how they relate to each other.

If you can stabilize the spine during the running motion, you can generate less "noise" in the overall system of your body as you run, thus attaining Vestrit's efficiency (less noise=less unnecessary jostling, wiggling, and shifting throughout the torso while legs are doing their gross motions)

More power and force is transmitted down through the pelvis into the legs when you work with a stable center because you do not lose energy in extraneous motions. You are also able to better absorb the impact of running in way that is not as harmful to your back and hips and body when you have stability. You are in better alignment in the joints, and you are capable of holding that alignment with your trunk muscles.

Stability involves the musculature of the whole trunk, from the latissimus dorsi muscles all the way to the pelvic floor. This means training for simultaneous, supple engagement of the obliques, transverse abdominal, pelvic floor, lats, and erector spinae muscles, among others...even the diaphragm can get in the fun---NOT necessarily crunches (traditionally useful for training rectus abdominal, good for the six-pack, good for the armor, but not so important for the stability.

[Liffguard]

So, it turns out that if two shins meet at high speed, and one of them is harder than the other, then the less hard one will be in fairly significant pain afterwards. Who knew? After discovering this revolutionary new principle of human physiology I decided to take a well-earned break and treat myself to a luxurious ice pack and dose of ibuprofen.

Leg pain aside, I actually had a pretty good session. An hour of solid Muay Thai sparring today, the first stand-up sparring for me in a fair few months. I hurt my leg pretty early but decided to keep going on the adrenaline, it didn't really hurt until afterwards. I wasn't as rusty as I'd feared but I did discover that I've adopted a lot of habits that are great for boxing but dangerous for Muay Thai. I.e. I rely a lot on slipping and rolling which is just asking for a kick or knee right in the face. That said, I was just happy that I was able to keep my composure. I mostly managed to stay relaxed and made it through the full hour without bowing out. My cardio is coming along nicely.

[seastarr]

So, it turns out that if two shins meet at high speed, and one of them is harder than the other, then the less hard one will be in fairly significant pain afterwards.

I'm betting the other shin is hurting too. ;)

[Zoë Sumra]

My right leg is finally working well enough for me to do reasonably hard exercise again - spent an hour at the gym this evening doing a mixture of exercises my physio gave me, exercises I would have done anyway, strength work specifically on my right hamstrings and cardio. After two months doing none of it, my cardio's utterly atrocious and my workout came to an end when my chest decided that the whole breathing lark was getting a bit old. :(

[RedEyedGhost]

How long was your recovery time after your ACL surgery? I've got to have it and I'm hearing that it can be about 9 months which will be a pain in the arse.

It all depends on how much you rehab it. I ruptured mine skiing last year, had it repaired April 29th, and was skiing again the week before Thanksgiving. I've heard that you can get back to 100% in four months with extensive rehab. I felt that I was there after about six months, and I was doing rehab once a day 5-7 days a week. If you're lazy with the rehab it can take a year or more before you're back to normal.

I'm surprised you couldn't play any sports at all, my doctor said that a lot of people that don't play sports a lot can function fine with a torn ACL. :dunno:

You can do a lot of stuff with no ACL (running, cycling), but doing anything with side-to-side cutting (basketball, tennis, racketball, skiing) is not smart because it will give out very easily which could lead to damaging the rest of your knee.

[Liffguard]

I'm betting the other shin is hurting too. ;)

Ha, if it was, the dude didn't show it. It was really my fault for not wearing shin protectors even though it's been ages since I last sparred using Muay Thai.

[Coyotes Daughter]

Jumping into the fitness thread, after many years away.

Doing post-surgery PT right now. Nothing remotely impressive, except that it's quite a lot for where I am right now.

Mostly, I'm doing some isometric muscle contractions for the abs / gluts / quads, and my boyfriend gets to wiggle my leg around to work on range of motion.

But I'm excited because this morning I got out of bed and joined the boy and the dog for their morning lap around the building (on my crutches, of course).

[ztemhead]

glad to hear it went well, CD. :)

there's tons of exercise and fitness expertise in the thread nowadays in case you need it.

[ljkeane]

You can do a lot of stuff with no ACL (running, cycling), but doing anything with side-to-side cutting (basketball, tennis, racketball, skiing) is not smart because it will give out very easily which could lead to damaging the rest of your knee.

Yeah I've been playing rugby, good thing there's no sideways movement in that sport. :unsure:

It's good to know that the rehab might be shorter than I've been hearing, especially if your knee held up to skiing which I'm told is particularly hard on the knees.

[RedEyedGhost]

Yeah I've been playing rugby, good thing there's no sideways movement in that sport. :unsure:

:eek:

Good luck with that.

Before I had mine repaired I wouldn't even play ping-pong because I didn't want to twist it wrong and fuck up the cartilage too (my ACL rupture was the only damage in my injury).

It's good to know that the rehab might be shorter than I've been hearing, especially if your knee held up to skiing which I'm told is particularly hard on the knees.

After you get it repaired just rehab it often, work it hard, and then ice it, a lot.

Have you talked to a surgeon about which type of repair you'll have?

There's three main types that the do now:

1. Hamstring tendon graft (this is what I had)

2. Patellar tendon graft

3. Cadaver graft

The cadaver graft is supposed to have the shortest recovery time. I know two people that had theirs repaired this way right around when I did, and both of their knee's just aren't right (pain mostly). One of them is a ski instructor and I think this was her third ACL repair on that knee, and hers was operated on by one of the top knee surgeons in the US (in Vail - the ski resort town that most of the celebrities go to). She was feeling pretty good for the first 6 months, but thinks she'll have to have it operated on again. I think she used crutches for less than a week after the surgery.

The patellar tendon graft is supposed to heal pretty quickly as well, but my physical therapist said he had several patients that have pain when kneeling later in life after this type.

I think the Hamstring graft is supposed to have the longest recovery time, including pain where the graft was removed because it sits right on the edge of most chairs. I had that pain for about three months, but if you adjust how you sit or use a pillow it's not too bad. I was using two crutches for probably two weeks the surgery, one crutch for another two weeks, and sporadically would use one for another week or two after that.