Glute Camp

Unfortunately the steroid shot in my knee I spoke about earlier in the year only lasted about 5 weeks. I am kind of surprised that it wore off so quickly, I am not sure if this is a metabolism thing or my knee is just absolute shyt. However, I'm very active, especially after surgery and only being able to walk, I was ranging around 12k steps a day so I suppose that had some impact on longevity. 

I made an appointment at the 3 month post injection mark, and my ortho did not want to give me another shot because I would become "dependent" on them, and I was annoyed. I know he is right, but come on. He suggested I keep doing the bullshit I am doing, ice/heat, and I come back in 6 months for another scan. I suggested physical therapy and he agreed, saying it "wouldn't hurt" and submitted an order. 

I'm almost halfway through 12 weeks of PT appointments. I go once a week and the therapist told me we are focusing on increasing glute strength, primarily, but also hamstring and quad strength to help alleviate pressure/weight on my knee joint. After talking to him over the weeks, and getting to the nitty gritty, there is no other end option but joint replacement, BUT it can be deferred, which is my ortho's goal as well. 

I've had a lot of injuries to my right knee. I remember as a teenager falling on ice and slamming so hard on the right knee, I could barely bend the joint, the bruising was violently purple, and of course my mom didn't deem it necessary I go to the doctor. Since then it's always been what I would call "creaky". Didn't help tearing my meniscus back in the day either, so I don't have much membrane to work with. My weight loss has helped tremendously of course. I cannot believe I did the activities I used to do at my old weight (like hiking Pinnacles National Park).

Anyway, as I mentioned, I'm about halfway through my prescribed therapy and it's pretty cool, I have been wanting to focus on glutes as I feel my ass is flat or deflated with my weight loss, and I always have a hard time firing from my glutes anyway. Therapy has been eye opening, and I learned how much I seriously underutilized my glutes when lifting, and now I train them 3x a week (1/3 days is including my therapy day), with exercises that are not barbell squats, which I really never plan to do again frankly. 

I am not going to see a night/day difference, but I can tell a difference in my stride and stance already. My knee fatigues less and less each week when I'm out and about. The joint is also not burning at the end of the day, that was something waking me up each night, feeling like my knee was on fire when I was literally just laying down. 

It is kind of frustrating that the doctor didn't recommend PT himself and I had to ask, but I'm glad I did. For the last two sessions we've done blood flow restriction (BFR) treatment exercises and they fucking suck, but are so effective. I am only doing leg extensions and curls with them and you do them in a set of 30-15-15-15 and it seriously feels like your muscles are ripping apart, like each set is a last rep set on the heaviest weight kind of thing. He did recommend I look into investing in a machine to use for my own recovery as I would likely see the most benefit from that and I am looking into it. It's about a $500 investment, which is pricy, but not out of reach. 

My therapist also mentioned platelet therapy, which is more experimental and not generally covered under insurance, but then hinted about medical tourism to get that done at a good cost. He told me that his mom did it for her hip and was able to defer a hip replacement for a couple years. 

It's not that I want to have a joint replacement, but more that I know it will need to be done and I would rather have it done while I'm younger and can recover quickly and still enjoy the things I want to do. I don't have dreams of hiking up the sides of mountains, but I would like to be able to hike Arches National Park, or even just spend a day sightseeing without debilitating pain and be down for 3 or so days after. They have both told me that the replacement only lasts about 20 years, so it is likely I would have to have it replaced a second time in my lifetime, so I get it. I am used to pacing myself at this point, and have recently invested in some Brooks, which have been very worth it. 

I'm glad to have a knowledgable physical therapist that actually challenges me, and we are not doing little baby exercises. Some are more easy on me, like lunges on a bosu, but I don't lunge at all due to the motion locking out my joint. I can position myself into a deep lunge, or actually the yoga position crescent lunge, where your back leg remains straight, I prefer that. I am hoping to see some noticeable glute gains as well, I'm certainly putting in the work for it.