I finally went to the doctor for my knee. I've been off of it for more than a month now and the swelling has mostly dissapated. But it still hurts to squat or lunge, so there's definitely still some tissue inflamation. I was nervous when I went in but it turned out okay. I'm such a skeptic!!
"Take this anti-inflammatory, go to physical therapy, and see me in six weeks."
I was definitely grateful for her advice, but I probably won't take the drugs. She practically begged me to take them as though she expected me not to. "Athletes don't like to take drugs," she said. "That's because they are very in tune with their bodies and scrutinize everything they put in them," I thought. But I didn't argue with her.
I did a bunch of research. Turns out I'm already taking all of the anti-inflammatory drug alternatives as part of the vitamin program my mom put me on. My mom rocks!
And I may be a purist but I'm all about the physical therapy. I'll do exactly what they tell me as long as it's not "pump your body full of chemicals". I'll do exercises and ice ten times a day. But mostly I want to learn what's wrong with me and how to fix it, or at least manage it.
I've been once so far and I'm very encouraged. He identified what he thought was wrong with my knee and helped me with some stretches and exercises, and immediately following the session I could do a full squat with no pain.
"You're young. You should heal very well."
It's definitely far from healed, but I think we're on the right track. And he's awesome! He totally supports my choice to not take the drugs. He explains everything to me and I learned a lot just in the hour that I was there. "I love it when you talk joint alignment to me..."
