A few weeks ago, I started to really notice a crunching sound in my knee when I walked up our stairs or squatted down. My knees have always bothered me when squatting or lunging, so I didn't think much of it. As the weeks passed, it seemed to get more noticeable. On Sunday, I held my knee as I walked up the steps and realized that you could feel something grinding in my knee.
Eep.
I went to the doctor yesterday to see what was going on.
Wait, let me back up. I'm extremely proud of myself for scheduling a doctor's appointment as soon as I noticed something was going on. Last time this happened, I ended up with a stress fracture, sidelined for months, and gained nearly 50 pounds.
Anyway.
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I went to the doctor yesterday. It's a touch of arthritis in my kneecap, possibly hereditary, but also likely brought on early because of my weight. It's also chondromalacia patella (CMP). What that means is that my interior and exterior thigh muscles are off-balance, causing my kneecap to grate against the cartilage since it isn't held in a stable position.
Of course my first question was, "Can I still run?" I could have hugged that man when he told me that the best thing I could do was run, get the weight off, and strength train. He gave me two options: Trying to treat it at home, which would require me being dead serious about sticking to a schedule of exercises, or physical therapy. Knowing full well that I desperately need to start adding strength training, I took the at-home route. He sent me off with some strengthening exercises and stretches to do two-three times a day. They're a little time-consuming, but time-consuming and running is better than sitting on my ass feeling sorry for myself, then having to do this all over again.
I also did some research on supplements to take to help build strength internally. I'm extremely hesitant to use glucosamine because it makes my hair super greasy. (Like, I think I forgot to rinse my conditioner greasy. Yuck.) From my research yesterday, I read that glucosamine is better for moderate to severe arthritis, but hasn't shown to help much with minor arthritis, which is where I would be. I settled on a calcium supplement with D3 and fish oil.
Isn't turning 30 great? Arthritis and fish oil supplements... woohoo!
Nothing like a wake up call from your doctor to get your behind in gear. I'm kind of excited about the fire this has set in me and I'm ready to dive into strength training.
Kind of. ;)
Looks like my half-marathon dreams are still a possibility!