As the title suggests, I made it to two BJJ classes this week. Last night I tested the hip/groin out by rolling a little harder. To this point, I’d been going very, very light. I’m happy to say that it held up with less pain. I’m still going to physio and I do still have pain, so I’m still being cautious. However, it’s nice to see that faint light at the end of the tunnel. 🙂
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Well it’s been 4 weeks to the day since I tore my hip flexor. It’s been a shitty time. Not as bad as an ACL tear, but a close second. You don’t realize how often you use these muscles until you injure them. For example, I’ve kept going to the gym to lift weights throughout the healing process. I’ve simply modified my workouts. I found out the first day that I couldn’t lie flat on a bench to press. This stretched the torn muscles causing my eyes to start glistening and noticeable whimper to those in my vicinity. So lying flat was out. Next I found that sitting on a shoulder press bench with my knees bent more than 90 degrees caused sever cramping. This wasn’t as bad as the stretching, but painful nonetheless. Finally I thought I could do some bent over dumbell rows. Unbeknownst to me, as soon as my lower abs contracted to brace, my breath would immediately be taken away and I would want to fall down. It was a bit of trial and error. I’ve spent a lot of time on the elliptical machine and doing machine circuits. I’m happy to say though, that it’s finally starting to feel better.
I started physiotherapy this week. He puts me through hell, but I feel so good when it’s over. The way he explained it to me is like this. I partially tore both the Psoas and the Iliacus. That’s why I have pain sitting up or lifting my legs while in bed. The thinks that that they are healing well. However, he also believes that the Iliacus has attached itself to bone during that healing process. That is what is causing the sever pain when the area is stretched. basically, the muscle has become too short. So what he’s doing is breaking the muscle away from the bone; re-tearing it if you will. Goddamn it hurts!
He’s expecting a full recovery which is what I wanted to hear. I really am going bat shit crazy being off the mats. It’s weird. I think about quitting Jiu Jitsu so much when I’m able to do it, but now that I can’t, all I want to do is get back on the mats. Yep, I’m fucked… Anyways, I plan on letting it fully heal before I get back out there. I have a trip to Whistler planned in January and I want to be able to ski as aggressively as I usually do.
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This past Friday I was to lead my first class as a purple belt. I had it all planned out. What we would warm up with, what we would drill, technique I wanted to work on, extra stuff if there was time, and end it with some rolls. During the warm up drills (standing guard passing/not letting the standing pass), I jumped in and within 30 seconds, tore my right hip flexor. Damn that hurt! I managed to finish the lesson by having a senior blue belt demonstrate what I wanted to show. What a let down. Now I’m out for weeks! Argggggggg!!!!!
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Somehow, my right knee is all fucky. Have no idea how it happened. It’s not tracking right. There is something blocking inside the joint that won’t allow it to bend past about 45 degrees unless I force it. There is a lot of pain. I’m about ready to give up and just get the joints replaced. Fuck them!
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My knee really swelled up while I was away skiing. So much so, that I could only bend it about 90 degrees. That didn’t stop me. I still blasted down the mountain time and time again.
I took a bit of time to rest it after I got back, but the swelling hasn’t subsided much. I decide to go to BJJ last night to see how it would hold up. I hadn’t been since before the new year, so I was itching to get back on the mats.
Class was small. Only 3 of us. As soon as I started working some Lockflows, I could feel the pressure from the swelling. I tried to ignore it. I did some tentative takedown matches, some guard passing/retention matches, and had a couple of full rolls. Today it was quite sore. So, I made a conscious decision to get back on the naproxen. I’ll go hard on it for a bit and see if that helps. 🙂
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Mountains to Mats 