Coming Back from Injury with Erik Ekvall

Erik, What injury were you dealing with?

I had a "near complete" tear of the medial meniscus root. The tear was the result of either skiing or running. Surgeon said that my options were to remove the meniscus completely or repair it, which is a more complicated surgery and would require 6 weeks of no weight bearing and 6 months before I could get back to full activity. He also told me that because of my age the chances of the surgery being successful were lower. However, while meniscus removal would be less complicated and recovery faster, I would be more likely to have arthritis and ongoing knee problems and would probably need a knee replacement a few years from now. I chose the meniscal repair.

‍

‍

What role did exercise and staying active play in your recovery?

It was a huge part of my recovery - not only physically but mentally. I was on crutches and had a big leg brace and couldn't get around much, which was very frustrating and made pretty much everything difficult to do. But I made sure not to miss any workouts. I kept up my twice a week visits to the gym and made sure that I did all of my PT “homework”.  Doing that gave me something to focus on and significantly shortened my recovery time.  I'm now 3 months post-surgery and am walking normally, and doing routine exercises like weighted squats, lunges, jumping, doing leg extensions and curls with heavy weight, as well as biking. Yesterday I had some testing done by my PT and learned that my leg strength in my left leg - the one that had the surgery - is as strong as my right.

‍

Were there any mental or emotional challenges during the recovery process?

Yup. It's really frustrating not to be able to do any regular day to day activities. But for me the bigger thing was my concern that after the surgery and all the PT that the sutures and staples wouldn't hold and all of this would have been a waste of time.

‍

Any advice would you give someone who is currently dealing with an injury?

Keep your long-term goals and recovery in mind and don't fixate on the pain or day to day problems that the injury caused. That's why, for me, knowing that twice a week I can go somewhere that I've got friends and can work out kept me on track and focussed on recovery and long term issues rather than short-term problems.

‍

What are your goals looking into the future?

To get back to running. I've already signed up for another marathon and plan to be in good shape in order to get a solid finish time.

‍

‍

‍

‍