Day 51: Knee Problems

July 26, 2022 in Sheridan, Montana

I woke up today with a pretty big worry on my mind: hiking downhill generally puts a lot of pressure on one's knees, and since I'm only just now coming up on a year post-op for ACL reconstruction, it can be pretty painful for me.

Yesterday, when we were hiking in Yellowstone, there was one particularly steep and long downhill. At that time, it was uncomfortable, and I could feel that it would be super painful in the morning.

I really did underestimate just how bad it would get, though, as I woke up several times during the night very uncomfortable. Come morning, I decided I would give it a shot on the bike and see how it went.

Right away, I started having significant trouble doing my full range of motion, but I hoped it would warm up and get better. Once we'd gotten about 12 miles in and I was still in significant pain, I was forced to make the call to rest.

It is incredibly frustrating having a body part that doesn't always do what it's supposed to. In the van, I found myself feeling really jealous––not a particularly good color on me–– of the people who were still on the road and not in pain.

At our second lunch stop, I did some stretching and PT exercises and found my industrial strength knee brace. Since I was bored out of my mind, I decided giving the bike another shot with my brace on was a good call.

And it was!!

The next 27 miles were relatively pain-free because of my brace. It also had everything you could want in a good ride––an extremely challenging uphill to make you feel like you've earned your supper, a glorious downhill just for fun, interesting towns and beautiful mountains, rolling hills, and 10 miles of mud to make you exercise sheer willpower.

I rode with my friend Zoe, and by the time we got back, we were both exhausted and absolutely covered in mud! Luckily for us, we finally had real showers.

Dinner crew made food tonight, and I had a burger, homefries, and salad. I really felt like I needed a dessert though, so my friend Eliza and I walked into town to the only open grocery store, and I got a delicious personal-size chocolate cream pie. It reminded me of the ones my little brother makes for Thanksgiving.

The highlight of my evening was talking on the phone with my boyfriend, and now I'll be heading to bed ahead of a long day tomorrow.