I don't normally post yoga workouts because their pretty much the same, and as a maintenance activity, they're just not that exciting.
It's a little different this time, though. Normally I go to yoga once/week - but yesterday I noticed something subtle with my left knee - when I went down stairs, I could feel an ever-so-slight catch of my kneecap on something as my weight beared down on my left leg to lower myself to the next step. It didn't hurt at all, and honestly if I wasn't generally so super-honed and on the lookout for anything odd (as I've been ever since having IT band issues), I probably wouldn't have noticed. I also found it was something repeatable - so it wasn't just a one time thing where something was off and it sorted itself out and was perfectly fine (like any time a joint cracks, for example).
Randomly enough, a coworker recently thought he tore his meniscus, because his kneecap was making a clicking sound when bending his knee. Turns out he has a form of runners knee - in his case, doing Aikido and being thrown to the mat repeatedly caused his quad muscles to spasm and pull his kneecap off. He's currently going through some PT (graston technique - also commonly used for IT band issues) to help loosen the muscles. After only one session, he's noticed a major difference.
The reason I bother mentioning this other person is because his symptoms are very similar to mine, except far more extreme. Until today, I was thinking that my issue might have been an imbalance in muscle strength, as so many injuries are with runners. Even though I had been doing strength training - lunges, squats, etc - maybe it wasn't enough? But hearing how this other persons PT told him it isn't a muscle strength issue, just an imbalance in muscle tightness, and the subsequent immediate results after only one session of the graston technique - it made me think that perhaps it might be a similar situation I'm in.
Regardless - it occurred to me that somewhere between increasing frequency of workouts in the past 4-6 weeks, doing such an intense legs workout last Wednesday, running an intense race on Sunday, and wearing the NB Minimus shoes (as opposed to the Nike Free Run's I had been wearing) - something was clearly starting to cause a problem. I didn't know whether it was a spot of inflammation, or the kneecap being slightly off track, or what. Even as early as Sunday, I was starting to get concerned that I was pushing things a bit too much, and that I should take a solid week of real recovery, not just rest recovery. I decided after the race that I'd take the week off of running, go to yoga at least twice, and go get a deep tissue massage this week. This was actually before I felt the thing with my knee yesterday.
Anyhow - yoga tonight was nothing special in and of itself. I went to yoga on Monday, and today was the second class for the week. However, what is special about it is that when I got home, I tested the knee out a few times, at various points in the evening, on the steps... no catching. Nothing.
I'm really.. beside myself. I mean, seriously... WTF?! I've been telling people recently that yoga is like my magic bullet for healing and recovery, but COME ON - this is just getting rediculous! How the eff is this shit fixing my IT band, healing tendonitis on the top of my right foot (after the marathon in October), and possibly fixing a kneecap? Granted, I'm holding off on declaring victory, and I'm still doing the deep tissue massage I'm scheduled for tomorrow - but considering I felt the knee catch prior to going to yoga, and now I don't feel it - I just find myself continually shaking my head at what this type of cross training appears to be doing for me.
It's clearly the best $13 per hour and a half session I've ever spent. And that not counting all the countless other benefits it's provided in day to day life with increased flexibility and range of motion.
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