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Please Not Again

I have a dumb knee.

I don't like to say its a "bad" knee, because it still totally functions (quite well, actually), but it has some issues due to past injuries/surgeries (meniscus tear).  Every once in awhile it will ache (typically when the weather changes, which my friends find hilarious), but then it will feel normal again.  Sometimes a particularly rigorous class will make it ache too, but its nothing a little post-class icing/elevation/resting can't cure.

At least that was true until a couple of weeks ago.  The weather had been weird again, so when it started to ache, I didn't really think anything of it.  Then last week I somehow managed to overstretch my hamstring on that side, and it REALLY ached.

I'm naturally hyperextended, so I figured the combination of overstretching (and also forcing my knee back while doing so), plus the weather stuff had just made it irritated in general.  I wasn't really doing more classes/rehearsals than I had been at Christmas, so it was just a bad combo.  However, just to be safe, I called up the surgeon's office to see if I could get it checked out.  I fully expected that he'd tell me it was a Baker's Cyst, or just a little strained.

The Bad News: I might have another meniscus tear (sad trombone noise).  The only way to know for sure would be to get an MRI, though.  The Good News?  It might NOT be a tear.  Except for some slight swelling/fluid in the back (behind my knee) and the pain when he pressed a certain area of my joint, I don't have other typical signs of a tear--I would be much more swollen, and it would prevent me from dancing.  I have no instability and had no pain when he twisted it in various directions, so that's good.  I'm hoping its just a mild strain and that our 2-week post-recital break will help it heal some.

 
My knee after surgery in 2010--do not want again.

However, if it still is bothering me, gets more swollen, and/or prevents me from dancing, I might have more surgery (and recovery) in my future, which is something I don't want to re-live.  No dancing for 3 months? NO THANK YOU.

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