It's been a little more than a week since the discovery of the cyst in my knee and just about a week since I started cycling. The doctor I consulted had recommended that I start cycling, continue light-paced walking and commence strengthening exercises for my quads and hams for speedy healing of the cyst along with tips on how not to aggravate it further.
The cycling has been great. Since, at best, I'm an absolute beginner at cycling, we decided to set up an indoor training system where I could reap the benefits of cycling without the fear of bad roads, crazy traffic and hyper stray dogs having a go at my ankles. I started with 10 minutes and now I have slowly worked my way up to 15 minutes everyday. I have new found respect for those people who sweat their asses off (literally) in those fancy spin classes.
And it seems to have helped! It does feel like the discomfort in the knee is slowly easing off. It will probably take another 2-3 weeks of this for my knee to start feeling normal again and a couple of more weeks after that before I can even think of getting back to running. I'm looking at mid-Feb at the earliest if all goes well.
As a note-to-self and for any others who maybe having a tough time with dealing with injuries, here are some thoughts...
Injuries are an inevitable side-effect of an active lifestyle. Everyone deals with it at some point - even elite athletes. So you don't have to feel bad about having gotten injured. It happens. It is also not a comment on your abilities. Even the most skilled sportspeople get injured. Manage the injury, heal, learn from the experience and get back stronger.
Patience. You gotta have patience. Healing takes time. And it takes longer as you grow older. It is very tempting to get back into training the second you're feeling okay-ish. Over the past 6 weeks, I've had several moments when I've thought, "Hey its not aching like yesterday, so lets try running again" and I'm super glad that I didn't act on that impulse for most-definitely, I would have worsened the situation and probably would have set back the healing process by a few extra weeks.
Don't slack off. Just because you're healing does not mean that you have to veg-out and let your fitness go. Keep active. Most likely, the injury is isolated so there will be other exercises or activities that you can do without worsening the hurt. In my case, it is walking, cycling, swimming, strength-training... (basically anything that does not involve bending the knees beyond 90 degrees, locking them out, pivoting movements or high-impact movements like plyometrics or running) That way, when you get back off your injury, you're not starting off again at 0 fitness level.
Find another love. True, the injury might be keeping you from doing that one thing that you love but you could look at this as an opportunity to discover & pursue something else that you enjoy equally. Or you could take this time to work on something important that you may have neglected or overlooked in the past. For me, it is upper body strength. So weak, and an area that I've actively kept away from! Now would be a perfectly good time for me to work on this. Finding this other thing will help keep you going and bridge that gap between injured & recovered.
Be mindful of what you eat. Weight gain is all too common when you're injured. Mostly because you're not moving as much as before and you're probably eating the same amount as you would have when you were in training. Learn to cut back on the calories and eat only as much as your body's activity levels demand.
And lastly....
It's not the end of the world! Though it might seem like it. If you're anything like me, you may tend to get depressed because you're not able to continue doing this thing that brings you so much joy and satisfaction. I have to keeping reminding myself that "Its Okay". I will eventually get to run again and a few weeks of not running really doesn't matter in the larger scheme of things.
Heal, Learn. Get back Stronger.
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