The Prognosis

Posted in injuries by Nate

The doc pressed his palm against one side of my knee and asked me to push against it. In multiple directions “does this hurt?”, “does this hurt?”, “does that hurt?”, and “what if you stand there and step down with that leg first – does that hurt?” Most of it was “no” and “not really” – but a thumb pressed against the innermost side of my kneecap yielded a fairly excruciating shooting pain.

“Hmm” as he thumbed his chin.

“Well – you have three bands going through your knee. One of them, and I’m guessing the lateral meniscus, is either strained or torn. We’ll treat it as if it’s strained – you’ll be on anti-inflammatories for three weeks. If there’s no progress, we’ll do an MRI. If it’s torn, it could require surgery.”

“Can I run 13.1 miles on the 19th if I take it slow?”

“Your call. Listen to your body. Can you do it without training?”