knee injury.

a serious knee injury to my left knee when i was 19 ended my dream of playing professional football (soccer), and kept me off the field entirely until i was 36 years old.

i started playing again after a knee surgery gave some stability to the knee and allowed me to run...for awhile.

three surgeries later and years of weight training and several increasingly more expensive knee braces, i finally threw off the bonds and played brace free last year for the first time since i was a boy.

the dream was realised. i had said that i wanted to achieve that before i turned fifty, and i was two years early.

yesterday i was taken right back to square one.

ironically, not with the left knee, but with the right.

i turned to chase a ball and beat a defender who had come too close, and as i turned he lunged, catching my right foot as he did so and tripped me. as his foot caught mine my right knee twisted ever so slightly and as i fell i knew something was wrong.

i got off and could walk without pain and tried running on the sideline as the game proceeded with the intention of returning in a few minutes.

as i stayed warm running on the sideline i realised that the knee wouldn`t hold my weight as i squatted down to parallel. my game was over....


....this morning i got up pain free except when i tried to climb stairs.

the leg wouldn`t carry me.

i tried some stiff-legged dead lifts up to 225 for four reps without pain in the joint, but as i tried to descend into more of a squat i could feel the sensitivity above the knee.

thankfully the cartilage seems to be intact, but the ligaments above the inside of the knee are strained significantly.

i rode my bike a little later and felt some discomfort as i pushed down with the right leg, but again, the joint seems stable and the damage seems to be in the soft tissue.

good news.

four to six weeks of progressive weight training and bike riding and i should be good to go.