I never really thought too much about my knees, until last month that is, when I realized that my knees were actually pretty key.
There I was, making my best Jackie Chan impression at the local soft play/indoor jungle gym when I took it a little too far. In pursuit of my prey, I misjudged the entry to a particularly narrow tunnel and smashed my knee hard on the edge. Here are the results:
My knee was so badly bruised/swollen that I couldn’t bend it for a couple of days, and even three weeks later, there is still a little pocket of swelling. I’ve now become painfully aware of how important my knees are and how painful it is to injure them.
There was a silver lining to all of this. The injury happened right before the new year, and that fact, coupled with a long trip we had planned over the New Year holiday, forced me to “take a knee,” as they say, step out of my normal routine, and just simply chill out and heal.
This meant that I got a lot more sleep than usual (8-10 hours of sleep is actually pretty amazing) and drank way less than I usually do (I was the sole driver on our trip so that made it easy).
Now, I feel great. Along with my knee healing, I’ve also gotten rid of a nagging back injury and reset my sleep habits to something more manageable to start the new year off right.
I don’t want to repeat the knee injury, but it certainly woke me up to the importance of mobility and looking after myself a bit more.
In conclusion, my New Year’s resolution is no more indoor jungle gyms. For now, anyway.
Comments welcome!