Knee Injuries

Something happened to my knee in high school. I don't know if it is actually torn or anything, it's been about five years since that happened, but I was wrestling, hurt my knee, it was kind of felt like it was on fire and then a month later I go biking and then all of a sudden my knee, there's like a bursa sack is what it's called, I think it's just this little pouch of fluid that protects your knee, it had completely filled up and it was like having a water balloon on my knee, which was actually, it didn't hurt at all, but it was kind of fun just because it just looked really weird.

I tore my ACL skiing, which is a pretty common sport in Utah, so you just need to make sure that you're being careful. Pretty much I was just throwing a 360. I'd done it before, but I didn't rotate completely. I only went about three-fourths of the way. So when I came down, my ski was perpendicular to the ramp, and the whole edge caught, and I got all my weight put on my left knee, and that's what busted the ACL. So make sure you're being safe while you're out there skiing.

So in high school, I wrestled and I played soccer. And so my experience in the injuries is I actually popped out my patellar tendon a few times. It's just right at the tendon that goes across the knee. I just came out of place. So I had to pop it back in. So that just happened, just, you know, it's intense sports, your legs turning weird ways. And so it happened a lot in wrestling. Then, so I had to quit that actually. And then in soccer, it would happen every once in a while. So that's my experience in the injuries. Not anything too crazy, like tearing anything luckily, but that's my experience with knee injuries. So it can be anything from big to small. So you always have to be careful with what you're doing and just be smart with how you're playing.

So when I was little, I used my knees a lot more than I should have. I think back to it now and it just hurts to think about it. I would just, I would even jump off the swing at the playground when I was little and like land on my knees. I don't know why, but that's just how it was. You know, it didn't hurt at the time or anything like that, but as I've gotten older, my knees don't, aren't as great as they would have been. But yeah, I definitely had a chip in one of my kneecaps, like a pretty good sized one that I found out when I got an x-ray one time. And after that, it was like, I'm going to have to be more careful, especially if I want to, you know, live my life with my knees working for as long as possible.

In high school, I used to play basketball. And I remember in varsity game, I was running and suddenly this guy tackled, like he didn't mean to tackle me, but he tackled me and I landed in a wrong position. I tore my ACL as a result. And like first, like my knee was really swollen. Like I like I had like very massive pain, like I cannot walk or anything. And when I went to the doctors, I figured out that I tore my ACL and I could not walk, I could not run for like, six or seven months. And it took me a long time to go back to my normal myself, where I used to love running and playing basketball. But I think it was a very meaningful experience where I could learn a lot of other stuff.

When I had my knee injury, what happened was I was snowmobiling and I caught a little too much air and had to bail. One of my feet got caught in the powder and my body kept moving forward and my knee twisted. I heard two pops and it was a very excruciating pain. What ended up happening is I partially tore my MCL and then tore another ligament in my knee that connects the patella. I'm not too sure with the bones, but I tore another ligament in my knee and that's what created a lot of the issues for me.

I ran cross country and then at the end of my senior year season, beginning of winter, and this pain started in my left knee like really bad and I couldn't extend it all the way and I couldn't bend it back either and if I stood in any position too long it started to hurt. It was swollen and I had this huge limp and I kept telling my parents about it and they weren't very helpful and so this went on for like like three months and then finally I went to a doctor and what he said was oh your kneecap slides the wrong way when you walk that's what makes it hurt so you just need to buy better shoes and I did and now it's all good.

So when I was in high school, I wrestled and I tore my ACL and my meniscus. It really sucked, honestly. So at first, what got really swollen was sore. But then I could kind of walk, but I couldn't run or do anything active until six months after I got it operated on. So after the operation, which wasn't super fun, I was in a stiff-legged brace for a long time. And then I had to do a lot of physical therapy. So it's like a long road to recovery. And honestly, your knee's never going to be the same after. Obviously, now I can still feel the difference. But I can still do every activity I could have done before, if that makes sense. It's not as comfortable. You definitely feel the difference in your knees, but you're still going to be able to do everything that you want to do if you have that injury and you get it treated.

So once upon a time I was a young teenager and I was trying to learn how to do a one-handed cartwheel and when I landed my foot went in such a way that it kind of wrenched my knee in like an outward direction and I felt something snap. I'm pretty positive it was my ACL. In fact, I think my ACL is still torn because though it's now been about 15 years since that injury and I can walk and run, I do get regular aches from that knee. When it's cold out, I feel it ache. The body is pretty remarkable. It's pretty incredible that even though I didn't get my knee lucked out by a doctor, it seemed like it mostly healed after about a year. I just make sure I don't pivot on my knee. Now, I wouldn't recommend that you do what I did. I could have a better knee if I had gotten it stitched back together probably.