Rehabilitation Update :: 10th April, 2012

Rehabilitation is coming along well enough with a noticeable improvement in the left knee this morning. It had taken a while to notice anything getting better with this troublesome knee so it was nice to wake this morning (after a very restless night) with an almost immediate feeling of improvement in my ability to bend the knee and to put it to work getting on my feet. Today was also my last chance to get some level of comfort in the knee before flying out to London on Wednesday morning - a trip that my knees are probably not going to enjoy.

I reported in my last rehabilitation update that the left knee was not keeping in sync with the right and nothing has changed to this day other than the fact that each knee is still improving but more so in the right than the left. I have been walking regularly, sometimes getting two significant activities in one day and after each one the swelling seems to be relieved for a while. I try to ensure that each knee is bending as much as it would allow and with each walk, I would successfully try to increase my pace a little. My most recent walk this evening felt like a strong improvement which seems to be the trend for each walk I complete. The only thing that seems to trouble the knees now are the downhills but this will improve with time. A good icing after each walk (when I can) and from time-to-time when needed also helps things along.

I visited the physio this morning and the news on the knees is all good. I received confirmation that there is definitely no structural damage to either knee and once the bruising heals and the swelling is eliminated, they will return to 100% functionality. It will take some time and I will need to be patient but with the walking I have been doing and some additional activities I have been given, I should be able to be back onto a spin trainer doing zero-load activities in a matter of days - I'll just need to find a spin bike in London somewhere, otherwise I will have to continue my walking activities and await my return before being able to complete some spin work.

Click to view larger image

Click to view larger image

Fork damage.
Click to view larger image

Top tube damage.
Click to view larger image

With the first week elapsed since the collision and with thanks to Kath' for driving me (still unable to trust the knees enough to drive safely), I was finally able to get down to Garland Cycleworks to see the damage to bike first hand. The photos I had received showed pretty much what had happened to it so I was not surprised to see the extent of the damage to the frame and fork. What I hadn't realised is that the force of the impact to the head tube appeared to have shattered the bearings enough to almost seize the steering. Clearly from this and the photos of the damage to the car, the impact was quite significant and just goes to show how very lucky I was to come away with just superficial injuries and a written off bike.

So London calls and I am on the plane in the morning for the long flight with a 5 hour stop-over in Hong Kong. The longest segment of the flight (Hong Kong to London) is scheduled to be on Boeing 777 so hopefully not too bad if there are not too many people flying so I can get an entire row of seats to myself and enough room to be able to complete my in-flight activities to keep the knees moving. The return flight is just as long with a 7 hour stop-over in Singapore. The flight to Singapore is scheduled to be on an Airbus A380 and having flown on one of these before, the level of comfort is a little better than other aircraft but again, fingers crossed for a half-full flight.

I will endeavour to keep the rehabilitation activities up while in London but will have to fight the cold weather and try to keep the knees as warm as possible while active. Don't know how I will go with it all over there but time will certainly tell. Of course, I'm not in London for pleasure so work will come first and rehab activities will have to be interleaved with my work commitments - not sure how this is going to pan out but will have to do my best to manage it.

Hopefully with my return to Perth and a chance to rest up after a rather hectic schedule abroad, I will be close to getting back on the bike for some light workouts and begin my build up back to full strength.

I shall keep you posted and thanks for reading.