a healing knee

I am going to play catch up today and get some posts done of thoughts that have been lingering in my head for some time now. If you recall I have been struggling with my knees for a while, especially the right one. It's been an off and on thing and only became worse when I began doing CrossFit. Now before you naysayers crack a smile and think I am blaming CrossFit for this, keep reading to see that I am not. If anything, CrossFit opened my issues to the underlying issues that I have either not noticed or ignored. When I picked up running in 2009 I had noticed some discomfort in my right knee almost immediately. I shrugged it off as the result of being overweight and that it will go away on its own after a while. And though my knee never experienced actual pain, it never really went away. And with most things that become constant, you become numb to it and forget that it is even bothering you. Fast forward to May of 2013, I start doing CrossFit. That nagging discomfort reared it's ugly head almost immediately. In the beginning everything I did was either modified or light, I wasn't pushing my body to it's limits yet. At first air squats were easy and manageable. I learned to do them wide legged so that I could actually do them. Then when I began doing thrusters, overhead squats, front squats, and especially heavy back squats, everything began to change. That discomfort turned into pain and there would be times I couldn't even do an air squat without my knee feeling like it would explode!

I feel very fortunate to have found the CrossFit box that I did. The coaches there are fantastic and have been very helpful with helping me figure out the causes of my pain and helping me come up with a mobility routine to help rectify the problem. It all came down to my squat. The question was, why wasn't I squatting correctly? Remember, it is not the squat that caused the pain, I had been dealing with knee issues long before I found CrossFit. It all came down to my mobility and flexibility. You'd be amazed how having tight hips and ankles can affect so many things in your life. So almost on a daily basis I go through a routine of stretching and mobility work on my ankles, calves, adductors, knees, hamstrings, quads, glutes, and hips. I don't ignore other areas of my body either, but I do spend a significant amount of time on my lower half. I've been at for 4 or so months now and let me tell you is hasn't been easy. If you've ever been injured at any capacity you know the healing roller coaster, where you begin to feel good for several days and then suddenly you feel like you took a million steps back. Too many people give up and not continue to push forward with their healing because they expect immediate results. Nothing heals over night.

I am happy to say that things have really begun to improve. My squat is looking AND feeling great. I have started to add some light weight on my squats and so far have been successful. I don't expect this to be the end of my knee issues but it is certainly gotten closer to the end. During this journey I have definitely learned some things and am continuously amazed with the human bodies capabilities. If you are having any issues with your squat, or just squatting in general, or maybe you know you have tight hips, check out the 30/30 Squat Challenge on Facebook. I'm not kidding, it will do wonders for you!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.