Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight Barefoot Jog on Grass / 半月板損傷リハビリ芝生裸足走

Sept. 28, 2022

I love working out after work. I know for some people evening is time for relaxation. I can totally relate to that. It's only that I get off work at 10 p.m., and because of the nature of my work, which is teaching, it is not easy to immediately hit the bed after work. My mind is racing quite a bit. It takes a couple of hours for it to calm down. 

There are different ways to achieve the goal of calming yourself down before going to bed. Some may do breathing. Others read a book till their eyes get heavy. I do both every now and then. But my favorite is going for a jog. That steady rhythm of landing soothes my mind. 
 

But I have a small problem when I run at night. Though I run mainly for relaxing myself, I often listen to audio while running because I want to get the most out of the running time. 

It has both benefits and downsides. One benefit is reinforcing useful information. For example, last night I got to hear a very motivating statement by Marie Forleo that says, "Fail is faithful attempt in learning." Wow! Isn't that awesome? It's immediately applicable to my daily teaching. Many students try something, and end up failing and feeling bad about it. From now on, I can tell them that it is not the end of the world. In fact, it is the start of your ongoing learning journey!!

But once that info. is registered as important, naturally, your brain will stay busy sorting it out for a while after you climb into bed. Naturally, it takes a while for you to fall asleep. In other words, it is against my hope to immediately fall asleep when I go to bed after late night jog.

I'm still wondering what to do with this double bind. I may consolidate all my input effort in the morning while saving my late-night hours strictly for emptying my mind if such a thing ever exists.

Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight Jog

Sept. 19, 2022

Tonight, I was a little indecisive on running. Should I run? Should I wait for a couple of days more? The hesitation was due to a slight iffy feeling that occurred in the morning following my previous session last Thursday. The session was pain-free. But then on the following morning, the left knee seemed swollen just a little, and plus there was this iffy feeling that I had never felt before the injury. 

I avoided running for three days. While skipping running, I tried to stay fit by walking, cycling and body weight training. It worked. Three days later, I felt ready.

When I changed into my running gear and walked several steps, that iffy feeling in my left knee wasn't completely gone. But I started running anyway, saying to myself, "If it hurts, all I need to do is stop running and start walking. "

Pain didn't come. So I kept on running till I thought I had run enough for the night. 

After running, as I took a warm shower, I wondered if that iffy feeling was caused for a structural reason, or by what late Dr. John E. Sarno calls TMS.

If you want to know what TMS is, I suggest reading "Healing Back Pain" in which is explained how pain is induced by ischemia, which is a word meaning local lack of blood. The book explains how this lack of blood occurs not for a structural reason, but by the automatic nervous system as a result of repression of strong emotions such as anger and fear.

Benefit of Your Ability to Understand English: Access to Updated Medical Informatoin

Aug. 12、2022

One of many great benefits of having the ability to understand English is that you have free access to some of the latest medical articles. If you don't have this ability, you usually need to wait for them to be translated into your own language. That often takes one to two years. Or often times, some are simply not translated at all. While waiting for a translation, by the way, you are only exposed to medical information that has not been updated. 

For example, in the field of knee injuries and their treatment, it is largely taken for granted that your cartilage doesn't regenerate itself once it is damaged. Most medical narratives say that there are no blood vessels running in knee joints (which is true by the way), and they often cite it as if to say that full recovery is beyond hope. 

However, reality shows that athletes who were once tormented with pain as a result of knee injury will often become pain-free after months after months of rehabilitative effort. If fact, I am one of those who once almost lost hope for recovery but who has recovered to a decent level. I jogged for 30 to 40 minutes two days in a row in bare feet on grass, and I went out for a 30 + K bike ride the following night. The following morning there was no iffy feeling in the knee once injured. 

Had I completely accepted the "knee joints won't regenerate because there is no blood stream there" mantra, I would not have recovered this much, because I would have simply abandoned hope for recovery, and settled for a crippled version of myself. 

I did not, however, lose hope. Two videos helped me. I would like to write about them one by one.

<Exercises & Treatment for Meniscus Tears>

In this video physio-therapist Maryke plainly explains the mechanics of meniscus discs and how injuries occur. The most significant take-away from this video to me is that pain eventually calms down fully, and you can function fully even if you continue to have a tear in your meniscus disc. This is a scientifically proven fact. It has also been repeatedly observed in physio-therapeutic practices.

The fact that full functionality can be regained regardless of existence of tear is enough for me to move forward. But just in case you may be so hung up with whether a tear will heal or not, I would like to draw your attention some intriguing medical practice. At orthopedic clinics, they MRI-scan you to diagnose 'a meniscus tear'. However, they almost never MRI-scan you again after pain calms down. So even when you get better, you will never know whether it is because the teared tissued have brought together or not. Why do docs not MR-scan you when pain calms down just to make sure that a tear has been healed? I assume that most likely a tear is often or sometimes still there. But suppose that pain is absent even when the tear remains, a funny question arises: Wasn't the tear the cause of the pain???  I will leave readers to answer the question.

I suggest you stop worrying all together about whether the tear has healed or not. I suggest you accept a structural abnormality such as a tear as simply a typical manifestation of degeneration resulting from ageing and that you live with it!!

Now that you know that you can recover pain-free athletic life whether or not a tear heals, the next step is learning how. While Maryke does show you some specific rehabilitative techniques, and also teaches you the most fundamental lesson that different activities are recommended depending of your recovery stages, her advice is mainly focused on initial stages of recovery. And therefore, for those who want more advanced rehab efforts needed in late stages of recovery, we need to turn to another video.

<Knee Meniscus Tear Tests and Exercises for Full Recovery>

"Knee Meniscus Tear Test and Exercises for Full Recovery" is a great video.

In this video Eric Wong, an athlete and physio-therapist, gives you two things:

1) Hope

2) What to do for full recovery

Eric had a medial meniscus tear. When he shot the video, he was still in rehab process. He started with an acute pain.  Now the pain is almost gone, and he is able to do things he would never have imagined doing immediately after the injury. That alone is proof enough to make me want to try what he recommends in the video.

He introduces you to some diagnostic tests that everyone can easily do from home in order to identify what type of meniscus tear you have.

He also stresses the importance of knowing your upper limit of motion range of your knee. If you want to steadily recover, it is important to give it just the right amount of stimulus for the recovering connective tissues including the injured meniscus disc so that it can produce recovering response to the stimulus. If the stimulus is too strong, it makes it worse. If it is optimal, it will be stronger without causing pain. Patience and precision are required, it should be noted.

I would like to conclude this short essay by sharing a highly informative medical article. It was written by Duke Health, a world-class academic and health care system. It is entitled "Regrow cartilage in joints? Science says you can".

Long story short, cartilage in human joints can repair itself. The process is similar to that some fish and amphibian use when they regenerate limbs. It could be harnessed to treat osteoarthritis (変形性関節症), a common syndrome seen among the ageing population. 

Virginia Byers Kraus, a senior author of the article and a professor in the departments of Medicine, Pathology and Orthopedic Surgery at Duke, says molecules called microRNAs regulate the process. And she calls this human capacity to repair joint tissues our 'inner salamander' capacity because it is most famously observed in the amphibian. 

Prof. Kraus mentions use of microRNAs as medicines to slow or prevent degeneration of joints in severely suffering patients. Personally, the fact that we have innate capacity to repair our degenerating joints is enough to stay hopeful. I should only be careful not to overdo it. But for those who are in severe pain to the point where simple basic activities are hard to conduct, Prof. Kraus's research should certainly be extremely encouraging.

I would like to conclude this by saying, "Where there is a will and updated medical knowledge, there is a way." 

Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight 10 K Jog in Minimalist Shoes

Sept. 15, 2022

5.1 K: 31:42.25

5.1 K: 29:51.04

Total 10.2 K: 1:01:33

I hit the road after work. My glutes, hamstrings, and adductors were a bit sore from weighted leg lunges on the previous afternoon, but I guessed that as long as I kept an easy pace, it would not bother me.

In fact, it did bother me slightly at first. But as I kept on running, the initial discomfort gradually became negligible. And about 45 minutes into it, there was a significant rush of some kind of natural pain-killer, be it β-endorphin or dopamine, I felt numb to all sorts of discomfort and soreness, and from that point on, I just kept on going like a locomotive.   

After I got home, I took a quick shower, and had a light meal consisting of tofu, natto, and brown rice. After the meal, as I was writing this blog post, I was engulfed with deep satisfaction. Can't wait to run again....

Midnight Bike Ride

Sept. 12, 2022  

Today is bike day. For me at least. After running 11 K in bare feet two days before, I wanted to give my recovering knee a little more rest. But at the same time, I wanted to stimulate my cardio and also to build my leg strength. Hence, cycling, because it is a much lower-impact activity for the knee.

I chose a course that has many hills and some long straight roads. It allows me to practice hill climbs as well as sprints. 

I took a brief fuel stop at a convenience store near Morita Architects Partnership. I ate an egg sandwich and drank barley tea. It hit the stop after a 10 K + ride with a 700 m uphill near the end.

After filling my stomach, I enjoyed my ride back home in high spirits. I increased cadence on uphills in top gear, and injected the pace on straights in low gear. This way I was able to develp different kinds of strength. 

I hope to do some core training tomorrow night or on the morning of Wednesday.   

Meniscus Tear Rehab 1-Hour Barefoot Jog on Grass

Sept. 10, 2022

1st K: 5:54.56

2nd K: 5:38.49

3rd K: 5:42.46

4th K: 5:43.58

5th K: 5:36.83

6th K: 5:22.86

7th K: 5:29.11

8th K: 5:22.08

9th K: 5:20.13

10th K: 5:19.24

11th K: 4:48.15

Total 11 K: 1:00:11

 

I hit a nearby park after getting off work and jogged on grass for an hour in bare feet. It was another pain-free running session. I take it as proof of steady recovery. 

The late afternoon park was filled with active visitors of all ages. A group of teenagers were playing soccer. Parents were having fun with their small son or daughter with a ball. Middle-aged runners were lapping the track, some at a brisk pace, others at an easy one. Groups of elderly women were going round and round as they enjoyed chatting with one another. With the warm early autumnal sun pouring over all of us, it looked like a typical late Saturday afternoon at the park. And I was one of these many locals that constitute this peaceful view.

On reaching the park, I took off my flip-flops and started running with them in my hands. I dropped them off on a speaker's platform stationed near the exit to the parking lot. After that I lapped the track again and again as I listened to a You Tube lecture by Paul Roetzer about AI, one of a number of subject matters that I want to delve into these days. It is informative in that it gives you basic knowledge of what AI is and what it can do. There are some examples to illustrate how AI works. So it is a good introduction to the technology, especially to someone like me who is a relative novice on the topic. 

While running, I simultaneously listened to the audio, and thought about my knee and what it would be capable of doing down the road. From time to time, I had this iffy feeling creeping up around the injured area. My heart sank, afraid that I might have to take a long break from running again. My spirit lifted, though, when the iffy feeling evaporated as I moderated the pace and adjusted the form. 

Thirty minutes into running, I asked myself, "Shall we call it a day? Or do you think it's OK to go on?" The iffy feeling had long gone. I felt slightly exhausted, but I thought I could cope with that if I slowed down. On I went. 

It's funny, though, that once I decided to go on, the slight hesitation that I had left before making that decision seemed to transform itself into some kind of fuel. What I mean is, though I decided to go on, on the condition that I would slow down, the pace did not change so much. And the slight feeling of exhaustion almost seemed non-existent from the start! 

I was checking my lap time each time I ran 1 K. But I lost count about 45 minutes into running. My Timex has recall function, so I checked how many Ks I had already run. It showed I was in the middle of the 8th K. I decided to run at least 10 K, and then was going to decide whether or not to go for an extra K to make it a solid one-hour session. 

When I finally covered 10 K, my Timex said 55 minutes something. Another K would make it a one-hour session. At this moment, I slowed down and tried to enjoy warming down. But when I ran the first half of the remaining K, I could not control the burning desire to pick up the pace, especially when I saw the blazing late afternoon sun shining on me, I injected the pace in the remaining few hundred meters, of course without taking wider strides because that could kill injured knee, but by increasing cadence while keeping the strides small.

The watch said 4:48 for the last K. And I was pain-free. Another mission accomplished. 

I look forward to seeing how my knee will feel tomorrow morning. Hopefully, just a little soreness and Baker's cyst just slightly more swollen. But that's it. I hope.  I do not care so much about Baker's cyst because it does not hamper anything of my daily behavior. It is just a visual abnormality, plus my body's natural attempt to heal the part of body that worked very hard. We all work hard sometimes. So do some body parts. And we all recover when we rest well. And so will body parts. Human body is resilient   

 

Midnight 7.4 K Jog & 10 Reps by a 12-Sec Hammer Pull-Up

Sept.5, 2022

3.4 K: 22:46.09

Park Workout: 9:59.88 / 10 Reps by a 12-Sec Hammer Pull-Up

3.4 K: 22:51.11

Total 55:37.08

*****************

I jogged at midnight. There were two purposes. One, I wanted to improve my cardiovascular capacity. Two, I wanted to listen to some audio. Listening at my desk does not have any athletic benefit. So, I listened while running. 

As far as my first purpose, my focus tonight was controlled running. By that I mean running that causes minimum impact on my once-severely-injured and now steadily recovering left knee. Two things were important:

1) Never to kick strongly.

2) Increase cadence and take short strides.

I stack to these two policies. As a result, I completed the run pain-free.

As to the second purpose, I focused on four things:

1) Stay in dead-hang position for two seconds.

2) Take two seconds to pull up.

3) Isometrically hold pull-up position for four seconds.

4) Eccentrically pull down taking four seconds. 

By doing the above, I wanted to build my shoulder stability in dead-hang position, increase concentric speed, keep the shoulders in more stable positions to avoid injury, and trigger micro tear which happens most typically when muscles are under tension as they are being elongated. 

Let's see the effect by observing how soar I will be a couple of days down the road!