A little over five months ago, I was in a really great place with my health and fitness.
I was spending lots of time on my mountain bike
and slowly getting back into running.
I had pretty much been having a love affair with the greenway all summer. It was my favorite place to spend the evenings!
After a lot of thought and test-riding, I purchased my very first road bike
with hopes of a sprint triathlon in the distant future.
Then one day when I was running something happened… one wrong step and a jolting pain in my knee that stopped me right in my tracks. I decided to rest, so I stopped running and biking. I iced daily and took advil around the clock. After 2 weeks of no change, I decided to get it checked out.
My x-ray came back clean and my physical exam did not indicate any issues except possibly aggravation in my plica, which is hard to diagnose. I had never heard of a plica before, but I was advised to rest and ice for 2 more weeks and I should be back to myself in no time.
Except that didn’t happen. The pain got worse. So after a few weeks, I got an MRI to make sure nothing else was going on.
It came back clean.
I had changed tennis shoes when my issues started so I switched back. Then I purchased insoles for added support thinking that might be an issue. I thought it briefly helped, but the pain ultimately returned.
At another follow-up, my doctor suggested I try some physical therapy to strengthen some of my leg muscles. Misalignment in the knee can cause pain, so tracking could have possibly been my issue.
So off to PT I went. I religiously did every exercise they gave to me.
I swam.
I got iontophoresis treatments.
They taped my knee.
Nothing helped.
After 3 months of no change, I was referred to a different doctor who works a lot with athletic injuries. He wanted to start by eliminating my plica as a potential source of pain. He said 90% of people with plica issues respond well to rest, something I had extensive experience with , but I could possibly be in the 10%.
He injected my plica with lidocaine and my pain almost immediately went away. I went for a *run*… and it didn’t hurt. It was awesome.
This indicated that my issue was indeed my plica. Then I tried a cortisone injection in hopes that it could alleviate my pain once and for all. I knew it could take up to a week to work.
So I waited for the pain to go away. 1 week. 2 weeks. 3 weeks. It was obvious at that point that the injection didn’t really calm things down. More discouragement.
And here we are. 5+ months later and it feels a bit like I’m back at square one.
Today, my doctor and I talked about having surgery to shave down my plica. I asked him if there was any other intervention I could try and he told me no, that I had tried everything. So, as frustrating as this whole experience has been, I know I’m not at square one anymore. I have patiently gone through each step and tried to conservatively manage this injury for 5 months. And after all of that, my pain is still exactly where it was back in August when I originally hurt my knee.
That is why I made the decision today to go ahead with the plica surgery. The surgery itself is simple with a really great prognosis, and I feel good about moving forward with it at this point. I’m happy to tell you that today is the finale of all of my knee treatment stories The past 5 months have definitely been frustrating, but I realize now that I had to go through all of that in order to feel confident in my decision to have surgery.
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has followed along on this journey and offered me words of encouragement or shared stories of similar experiences as I vented about my knee issues. Your positive thoughts have definitely helped along the way <3
If anyone out there has had their plica removed, I would really love to hear your experience with the procedure and recovery!
Good luck with the surgery. Sorry it has to result in that but hopefully it will mean healing for you.
Thanks, Jen
Good luck with your surgery! As someone who has had the same surgery, I can tell you that it is pretty simple and not too bad. BUT… make sure you take it easy for awhile and use it as an excuse to have others wait on you ;) I was a little over-eager, which I think slowed my healing process down!
Thanks for the tips! Would you mind if I emailed you sometime just to ask a few questions about your recovery?
Injuries suck! There is no better way to describe ’em. It sounds like you’ve done everything that you can to narrow down the problem though, and even though surgery is not fun, I think you and your knee will (finally!) be feeling better in no time! Good luck with surgery and take it easy during recovery! I look forward to reading about your running and biking adventures soon! :)
Thank you! I can’t wait to be able to post about those adventures :)
Best of luck with the surgery, I hope you have a quick recovery and are feeling back to 100% quickly!
Thanks, Jen :)
I’ll be praying for a speedy recovery Sam and that you will soon be up and about doing the things you love. Miss you, take care!!
Thank you, Anna. I miss you guys too! I hope you are doing well and happy belated birthday :)
I hope your surgery goes well! It sounds like you’ve done everything right and treated your body really well while trying to heal your injury. Hopefully this step will get you back on your bike and feeling fantastic in no time.
I hope so as well. Thanks!!
WOW – I can’t believe you are going to have surgery. It must be scary and relieving all at the same time. I bet you are just ready to get it over with so you can recover and move on! I’m assuming you will need to be put under for the surgery? Have you ever gone under general anesthetic before? Thinking of you and sending positive thoughts your way! When is the surgery?
Yes, I am a bit hesitant but also ready to get it over with. I will have to go under general anesthesia, which I think is the scariest part :) But the surgery itself is supposed to be really simple and not last very long. I did have to go under when I had my tonsils out last year and I didn’t have any issues. I actually don’t remember anything except waking up in the recovery room. Thanks so much for the positive thoughts! The surgery is scheduled for 4 weeks!