By Hugh Wilson
Morgan Johnson DPT and owner of Evolution Sports
Physiotherapy is the physiotherapist I selected based on his legendary success
working with runners in the mid-Atlantic region.
Day 1 of physical therapy started with an evaluation of
where I was physically, mentally, my goals, expectations and the level of
effort I would put forward to achieve the desired outcome.
For the first time in 5 weeks the brace comes off, heat is
applied for about 10 minutes after which Morgan starts to examine the knee by
massaging to determine a number of factors that will influence the course of
physiotherapy. While working on the knee Morgan talks about the muscle and
tendon tightness he is feeling and some amount of deep scar tissue that will
need to be broken up if I am to regain full flexibility. Morgan knew the starting point after a few
minutes – he starts some dialogue to determine my expectations .
“When’s your first
race?” he asks
I respond “in 3 months
and 1 week”, I neglected to tell Morgan
that Dr Lanzo said it would be advisable to cancel all races for this
year. Why mention that? Possibly Morgan
can get me in shape in the time left before the race…
“How long is it and how do you expect to finish?”
I say, “100 miles and I would like to shoot for a sub 24
hour finish”
Morgan could see I was in need of a major dose of realism –
which I often find to be very elusive. Rather than dousing my somewhat exuberant
expectations with warnings of why I could not possibly meet those goals, Morgan
let me arrive at that conclusion on my own with a little help from a stationary
bike.
“Give me 10 minutes on the bike, no resistance and see if
you can do a mile”
With an air of confidence I blurt out, “I’ll do 4” as Morgan walked to the other side
of the room. Biking is easy-schmese right? Wrong-o-buck-o! With a huge amount of effort, I barely moved
the pedal ¼ of a revolution…
What the heck is going on??? The tendon was reattached to
the patella (knee cap) so why didn’t the leg/knee do a simple task like peddle
a bike. Morgan explained strengthening the knee is one part, the other is to
retrain the knee how to do things it once found simple. I had no idea 5 weeks of immobility would
have such an effect.
I think it was that very moment, sitting on the stationary
bike and not being able to pedal a single revolution, that the reality of not
running for some time finally set in.
So this was the hand I was dealt – not a very good one for
sure. The last thing I would do at this point would be to fold and leave the
game. Quitting running never crossed my mind – what did saturate the brain was
what I needed to do to get back on track as fast as possible without causing
further issues.
A brief pause here – and I promise not to drone on about
each PT session – but I would like to point out the reason for the detail about
the first PT session. When I am told I can’t do something I am the type person
who will go out and do that something to prove them wrong, even to my own detriment.
Morgan deals with those types daily, he
never said I can’t , instead he gave
me the opportunity to come to the realization on my own that returning to my
previous level of conditioning will take some time. How much time depends on the level effort
I put into the physiotherapy exercises while tempering that effort so I make
great progress but I don’t cross that division where I start to introduce new
issues or re-open the knee issue I’m trying to resolve.
Of the many things I don’t understand is why some people go
to their PT sessions, and not do the exercises that they learn at the therapist's office, at home. If
you visit a financial advisor, you carry the information they provide into your
daily life; then why not do the same with your physiotherapist. When Morgan shows you an exercise, he will
give you detail on how this exercise will help with your issue, how it fits
into the overall plan and how many repeats are done with each limb, how many
sets of those repeats you need to do and how many times a day you need to do those
sets. The amount of what you get out of
something depends on the amount of what you willing to put in.
In future writings I will share some of these exercises that
benefit running. The last thing I would like to share in this second part is
quite new to me, but very old to the world – cupping. Cupping dates back to ancient The photos below are from one of my PT sessions where we did cupping.
We even tried it on a tight IT band and after 10 minutes the IT band was relaxed.
My
first thought when doing this was that I could be a space creature on Doctor
Who or possibly use the cupping as a unique Halloween costume!
The question most have is Does this hurt? I did not find any pain although it was an odd feeling.
In this second part of my article, Fixing a Broken Runner, my aim is to say we all get dealt a bad
hand from time to time – it’s how we play the hand we are dealt that matters. I have tried to maintain a positive attitude and keep an open mind. Physical therapy is going well and I have even received the OK to resume walking and running. The question most have is Does this hurt? I did not find any pain although it was an odd feeling.
