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Seven Things I Learned from My Broken Patella
Recovering from a broken knee bone taught me some valuable lessons (that I should have already known)… and actually made me a better runner.
Day 0. (Ouch!)
I wasn’t scheduled for a run today, but it was a nice day on the Seattle waterfront, and I couldn’t resist. I was training for the Lavaman Triathlon on the Big Island and wanted to get in one more long run before flying out.
It was a Saturday and there were plenty of pedestrians on the promenade, but I was used to the congestion. I had a pretty good approach to stay clear of them… until I didn’t. I was cutting to the right to avoid a particularly large meandering group when one of them darted into my path (to avoid me, hah!).
I tripped and slipped off the curb, crashing onto the roadway… landing with full weight on my left patella. (Ouch!) Later that day, I’d find out it was broken into three pieces.
Prognosis… Non-Surgical Treatment
Turns out I was lucky… if you can say that. It was a bad break, but the broken parts of the kneecap were perfectly lined up, and there wasn’t much of a gap between the pieces. I could straighten my leg without too much difficulty, so…
