How I Returned To Exercise After a Knee Injury and The One Workout I Continued During Recovery

I love to lift weights.  It makes me feel so strong, tough, unstoppable, like I can do anything.  Having scoliosis however, creates a problem with lifting heavy, especially olympic lifts.  My favorite.

However, the way my back is slightly twisted creates an excessive burden placed on my right side versus left side.  Which means, I use my right leg, glutes, back, and shoulders, to bare the most of the weight during a lift.

With repetition, this causes an extreme imbalance in my left and right side muscle mass and strength, leading to pain and injury on the [weaker] left side.  

I recently figured this out after heading to a Physical Therapist after almost blowing out my knee, not once, but twice.  I was training a lot, CrossFit and olympic lifts were new to me, on top of that I was doing yoga and running/sprints to get in the best shape of my life in the months before my wedding.

The imbalance really showed itself during my runs.  I could feel my weak left knee snap, crackle, pop with every step I took.  I didn’t know why it was doing that and heaven forbid I quit running, so the knee took a beating.  

Well that was a mistake.

It wasn’t until a couple weeks later, I went outside to run some hill sprints, only to be limping for a week after.

I decided I needed professional help.  

I sought out a Physical Therapist (PT) and let him know my main concern was to be able to walk  do sprints so I can “shred for the wedding.”

After a couple weeks I was able to walk normally again.  Hallelujah! When will I be able to run, sir?

I’m so patient.

It was going to be a while.  In the meantime, I had to figure out an alternative to get into awesome shape with a trip to Chicago on the horizon (hi, pizza) I needed a quick fix (normally sprints), like now.  

How To Workout With A Knee Injury

I was the best PT patient.

I was steadfast in my exercises for recovery.  “Do twice the amount the therapist prescribed” I thought.  “That will double the speed of my recovery” I thought.

Well…. Not quite.   

Still, I needed to move this body.  I’ve tried the not working out or ‘light workout’ thing before.  I’m not one of those “skinny” ectomorphs that can eat what they want and stay the same weight.  I have a sedentary desk job, I needed to get moving.  

My diet was in check but I still had the burning desire to do more.  That wedding dress fits like a glove okay…

That’s where yoga came in.

With my background being gymnastics, I made the most of my yogi-ness.  

Yoga was a miracle for me during a time when I couldn’t run or lift.  At first I had to wait for my knee to get moderately better, about a week or two.  In that time, handstands were my savior – no knee required.

Making the decision to bite the bullet and spend the $XXX to buy a class package when I was already spending $XXXXX for my wedding, was completely worth it for sanity’s sake.

I practiced often, what I found was enlightening.  

See, with CrossFit now in my regular fitness rotation, I didn’t make time for yoga. In fact, I had ignored yoga for a good five months with the exception of a small home practice and some stretching.  

Yoga postures put our bodies in shapes we are not accustomed to or wouldn’t do on a daily basis.  Through my practice, I found little and not so little areas of tightness and restriction I wouldn’t have found otherwise.  

Hello hip flexors!  Wow, those things were tight.  Tighter than ever actually. Go figure after squatting my bodyweight.

Related: Undo Sitting All Day Yoga Stretch Routine

As someone who considers themself a yogi and has been practicing as long as I have (7 years now), it still surprises me the lessons I learn.

I found tight areas in my body that could be part of the contributing factors to my injuries.  Or at least not helping.  By continuing to practice yoga more often, these areas opened up, made my body feel less restricted.  This in turn, gave me a sense of freedom and hope that I’d one day be able to return to lifting weights and running.  However, in a more mindful way.

Along with regular physical therapy exercises, I made progress.  There is no way I would’ve gotten better on my own as my PT discovered I have scoliosis and had me avoid exercises that would exacerbate my muscle imbalances.  

I finally got back to enjoying running, lifting, and a regular yoga practice. Being diligent with my PT, listening to my body, and being mindful in my weightlifting exercises has contributed to me being able to continually workout and reduce the incidence of injury.  

Have you had a similar experience?  Let me know in the comments below… What was your injury and how did you manage to stay active?

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Disclaimer:  All opinions are my own.  This post is intended for educational, inspirational, or entertainment purposes only.  I am not a doctor, the content on this blog is not intended to be substituted for medical advice.