Getting older sucks

Well, it's finally starting to settle in. I'm getting older. That's right folks, Ken Roko is getting older. You heard it here first.

I've been bothered with a pain in my knee since August. The injury happened just before I was to run an 8 miler with Hawkins and Dacks. Slight pain just behind my left knee, exterior side. I figured the RICE treatment would do the trick. Why not? It's worked on everything else before.

Well, I completely stopped any type of strenuous activity that would place the knee in pain afterward. No frisbee, no running, no nothing!!!! Needless to say, no nothing is no good for me. I need activity. I need sports. I need to feel the rush that I get when catching the disc on a long huck or defending a short down and out in flag football or just running around the neighborhood for a couple of miles. I'm an active person and without activity, I wither mightily.

So I bit the bullet and made an appointment with a doctor that specializes in sports injuries. In a nutshell, after a few tests, he deduces that I have tendonitis of my hamstring tendon at the insertion point of my knee. Seems to make sense. I do have pain when the knee is bent against resistance. There's not a lot of swelling but there is some stiffness after exercise.

OK, where do I go from here? Physical therapy!!!! Ultrasound and stretching. If it doesn't feel better in 5 weeks, I'm heading in for an MRI to really see what the problem is. Let's hope this is it. I'm planning on playing flag football this spring and hopefully run the Portland marathon this summer, that is if the knee is feeling better by the time I plan to do those things. No whammies, no whammies, no whammies, STOP!!!!

My advice, don't assume that as you get older your injuries will cure themselves like they did when you're younger. If you have the means, get it checked out pronto!!!!

Let's go Vikings.