Injured

I suffered an acute ligament injury last week and now cannot walk without pain on my left leg. The doctor said it would take a month to a month and a half to heal. In the meantime, I have to wear a knee brace.

I don’t have a knee brace yet and walking even a ten-foot distance makes me tear up from the pain/unsteadiness. Like every step is unsure and scares me.

I led a very active lifestyle for the past year. For the past 6 or so months, I’ve been doing 3-4 HIIT workouts in a week, with brisk walking for the other days. I almost always close my exercise and activity rings on my Apple watch. I work out first thing in the morning and enjoy the day after. It’s like a safety ritual for me — I’ve worked out so it’s going to be a good day.

The injury happened after my HIIT workout on Tuesday morning last week. It was a new move, like a duck walk but not just a duck walk, we were doing deep lunges while in a squat position. I felt strange then but also had the sense that it’s doable. Afterwards, there was a sensation above my left knee, like there was a bubble there. It wasn’t so bothersome so I didn’t mind it much. Then on Saturday, Fully Booked’s escalators were not working so I climbed up and went down two flights of stairs. Then my left knee started swelling and I was not able to walk on it anymore, it was a scary feeling not being able to rely on my left knee.

I saw a good doctor from the Philippine Orthopedic Institute which, by a stroke of good luck, happened to be a 5-minute walk from my place. I again miscalculated and thought I could walk there but no. I was sweating and taking breaks every few meters. Anyway, that’s that. It would be a while before I could go back to my usual workout routine again.

I’m afraid of feeling weak, afraid of the loss of positivity that only comes from regular exercise, afraid of damage to my body by being inactive, afraid of losing the progress I’ve made on my body — I thought I was in my best shape ever this weekend when I stepped on the scale. I don’t want to lose all of that and have to work again to get to my level pre-injury. It’s going to be hard.

I found an upper body workout this morning for those who have leg injuries and did 3 rounds of 8 dumbbell rows, 10 pushups, 20 crunches, 8 dips, 10 seated dumbbell overhead presses using a 10-pound dumbbell. I felt a little thrilled when I finished it because hey, a way to be active! It was different from my usual but I am grateful. I also have a greater sense of appreciation for my HIIT routines by Joe Wicks which now seems engineered to perfection. They boost my heart rate up and make me torch calories for 30-40 minutes in a very systematic way, making the most out of my time and efforts.

In a month’s time I’ll be back, Joe!




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