Inspired Physio Diaries – Deb & Her Knee Part 2

So I haven’t missed a day of work because of my knee and I’ve been patiently rehabbing it. This ment that I had to adjust my squat and was only lifting 20-30% of what I actually could AND I had to squat to a box. With the box and also some strapping there was no pain and no cracking sounds coming from my knee. I persisted with box squats for 4-6 weeks increasing the weight as I grew more confident and making sure that I wasn’t in any pain post training session.

As the weight of my squat increased I started doing some squats without ye ol faithful box – it started out as just light warm up squats without the box and then working weight with the box and progressed to one or two sets of working weight without the box and the rest with the box. Taking the box away completely was a big step in trusting that my quads and glutes were going to switch on and not let me get squashed (which to my relief, I didn’t get squashed). Then I weaned myself off using the strapping tape as well.

The hardest part of all of this wasn’t adjusting my technique or trusting my legs weren’t going to crumble under me, it was BEING PATIENT AND LISTENING TO MY OWN ADVICE. There is and always has been a competitive side of me that pushes me to do that little more and go that little heavier but patience in the early days and saying to myself ‘that lift felt easy, there was no pain AND that is ok – I don’t need to go heavier or do another set’ has ment that I was able to test my max 1RM lifts recently.

I’m proud that I was patient, that I paced myself and that I was kind to myself and I am grateful to say that when I tested my max squat a couple weeks ago I was able to squat my pre-injury max (112.5kg) quite easily without pain or any repercussions. So WOO for me! 3 months of rehab later and it’s time to get into the real stuff and prep for the next comp. 🙂

Deborah Chen, Physiotherapist