bad knee cartilage exercises

Hi. First off, way to go with the recovery, and getting back to some semblance of a normal life. That is a “climbing Everest” kind of accomplishment. Second, despite your injury, as I’m sure you and people around you have said, there are many positives here: You’re alive! You can walk! You can exercise! Yeah! Any physical activity imitations you have in the future are truly minor inconveniences compared to these basic facts. So, I would say…take the long view. What has it been, about 20 weeks since your accident? Maybe think in years, not months. Like, tell yourself, perhaps you can run somewhat comfortably…in two or three years. What to do until then? There are so many options. I’m going to assume you are a mountain athlete. So buy yourself a mountain bike. You don’t need to a be a freeride enduro downhill guy…so on long endurance singletrack adventures. Lots of cycles of easy and medium pedaling will be great for your knees. In the winter, skining uphill would seem to be much less high impact than running. You could “reverse the paradigm” and skin up and take the lifts down, if skiing down is out of the question for now. Cross country ski. Stand up paddle. Windsurf. Open water swim. And so on. In terms if getting back to the trails (because if you’re a determined athlete, I imagine that whatever you do you will still be dreaming of trail running) you could start…walking. Then walking with a light pack. Then maybe alternating walking and running. Then light jogging. But, again, in years, not months. Another good thing you have on your side is you relative youth. We have no idea what therapies might exist to help cartilage regenerate in 5, 10, or 15 years, or how easy/hard a knee replacement might be by the time you potentially need one. So I would say, again, take the long view, use this as an opportunity to practice diverse outdoor sports you would not otherwise, go gently, and remain optimistic that in the future you will be running (or hiking) along a path in the mountains. Good luck!

It gets better Sam, 2 years ago in a climbing accident I shattered my right tibia and fibula into a hundred pieces, completely destroying the ankle joint, as well as shattering my right elbow and wrist. I was in a wheelchair for 4mo, and crutches for another 3mo. As soon as I was able, I got on the bike and went about remaking my leg. expect to have to do hours of PT everyday, and find a PT who knows what they are doing. The hardest part is finding the balance between doing enough to get stronger, but not causing so much pain that your body creates barriers against trying hard. It took about a year and a half for my body to remember that not all pain is bad. The mental and neuromuscular trauma is probably going to the hardest thing to overcome. This summer I finally have gotten my confidence back to go to the mountains, and spent the past weekend scrambling ridge lines 20 miles in the backcountry. To my delight, I discovered that my fitness has dramatically improved since before the accident, by virtue of the discipline and drive it has taught me. Your body will never be quite the same, but that does not mean that you won’t be able to do what you want to do. I can run, but it isn’t a very efficient way for me to move yet. I used to look down on cycling, but at the end of the day, hours and vertical will still make you stronger, 7000ft of climbing on a bike feels just as hard and rewarding as trail running. It takes time and practice to feel efficent on a bike, just the same as running.
Keep your head up and eventually you will get there.
Nick

Sam:

Let pain be your guide to activity. Its going to hurt form time to time so rest it then. You will go through period where you’re tearing scar tissue and breaking adhesions. Those will be painful but almost immediately feel better.

As for a PT. The ones I knew in Bend are all retired now. Rebound used to be a really good place for athletes. Not sure where else to recommend.

Sounds like you’re making good progress. Keep it up and don’t let the bad days or the inevitable back sliding get you down. As with training, the progression is not linear but rather saw toothed looking.

Scott

Sam:

Try to get in to see Jay Dicharry at Rebound PT in Bend. I do not know him but have it on good authority that he’s very good.

Scott