PSoTD

A few months ago I had a knee injury during basketball, self-diagnosed it as a MCL strain, it went away but then I reinjured it while doing something as mundane as getting off my stomach on the floor while working on computer cables. My wife made me go to the Dr., and the short version is that I was wrong, and I have a torn meniscus and an ACL tear. I was scheduled for arthroscopic surgery yesterday to remove the loose and frayed menisci, but there was an equipment breakdown at the facility I was to get my work done, and I've been rescheduled for surgery in August.

Right now that isn't a problem. My knee is acting fine at this point, but the problem is, I really don't know when I'll re-injure it again. It just happens.

Doing research to try to avoid it happening again bring up interesting items. This is a good article about the basics of meniscus injuries. I didn't know there were four general types of tears. This was also news to me:

Although there are two menisci in each knee, one medial and one lateral, they do not have the same injury history. The medial meniscus, or the one toward the middle of the knee, is injured 90 percent of the time. The lateral, or the one toward the outer part of the knee, is injured about 10 percent of the time, often along with a ligament injury.

Anyway, I'm hoping to make it through this summer without much aggravation of this injury. I tried playing tennis last week, and I got through a set and a half before I injured myself. I refuse to not play sports while I'm waiting for the surgery, but am willing to wear a knee brace, and to try to play in a slower, more deliberate style of sports in an effort to avoid injury. It was when I forgot to approach a tennis shot in this manner that I hurt myself, by depending on reaction rather than accepting the limitations of longer-term intention. This approach doesn't make my wife particularly happy, but active playing is too important to me to sacrifice unless the risk of injury appears greater than it does today.