Name that tune: "I've seen the needle and the damage done..."

On the eve of my yearly vacation-birthday party, I somehow damaged my left knee. It was not from trauma...I think it was building up the yardage too fast in lap swimming, especially the breast stroke with a whip kick. It hurt enough that I had it x-rayed while I was on vacation, but there were no chips of cartilage floating around. There was some arthritis, which didn't surprise me, but not enough to cause the throbbing pain I was experiencing. The four ligaments were solid, so I am guessing it is an inflammation of the patellar tendon.

I went to see my doc at home yesterday, and he examined the knee and suggested a cortisone shot right in the joint. I agreed, though it's not the best solution, but then it turned out that he was out of cortisone. So I asked about aspirating some of the excess fluid from the joint to relieve the pressure, and he went and got his needle and tried, but the fluid wouldn't go into the needle...too viscous, like trying to suck a milkshake from a coffee straw. Then he suggested oral prednisone, another steroid, but I didn't like the side effects, so I left even more sore than when I went in. He could have used a larger-gauge needle, but the one he stuck in the joint was plenty big enough for me.

So the knee is getting better on its own, and ice helps. I'll just take it easy the rest of this week and keep ice on it to reduce the swelling from the inflammation. This is the time of year I begin footwork in preparation for teaching, so that will have to be postponed for a couple of weeks. But I am glad to be in a position that I can treat it conservatively. Because of other conditions I can't take anti-inflammatories, which limits my options.

This experience does give me more appreciation for what Lindajdunn, Parrythis FG and others are going through with joint pain. And just for perspective, I was feeling sorry for myself the other day, being unable to walk, swim or do footwork, and in constant pain, when I happened to watch CNN while eating my lunch. When I saw soldiers without legs, I decided to stop whining altogether.