A Little Swim

I finally made it to the pool today. I tweaked my knee Thursday night by accidentally stepping up onto the curb with my left leg. Oops. I took it really easy Friday and Saturday and thought today would be a good day to try a swim. Since I had put my gym membership on hold until May (I didn't expect my doctor to tell me to start swimming quite yet), I was prepared to pay the drop-in fee to get into my fitness center. Luckily, the guys at the front desk were sympathetic and let me right through with a finger to their lips... shhh... ; )

I'm not going to tell you I was excited about swimming. OK, maybe a teeny bit in the back of my mind, but mostly I was worried. Since my knee seems so sensitive these days I wasn't sure if swimming would feel good or not. It was sunny but windy on the rooftop pool at Bakar Fitness Center. I decided to sit in a chair for a few minutes and observe the lap swimmers before I chose what lane I wanted to jump into. I was happy that someone finished up and got out of the slowest swim lane so I would not feel as if I was getting in a faster swimmers way. Once I got in I glanced at the recommendations my physical therapist, Alex, gave me on pool exercise. I figured, if anything, I could use a pool buoy (photo below) and swim without kicking. Alex said I could try water walking, side steps, squats and leg lifts in the water. The pool at Bakar is perfect since there is no deep end and as long as you are about 5' 2" tall, you can walk from one end to the other.

Off I went, using the pool buoy first and just swam with my arms. I swam 3-4 laps and already felt winded. Whew... I remembered in the past that it didn't take too long to get used to the side-to-side breathing while doing laps so I kept on going. After a few more laps I tossed the buoy up on the side of the pool and tried regular freestyle swimming. I can't say it felt great. I kept repeating to myself, "kick from the hips, kick from the hips," trying not to bend my knees too much. It was slow, but I was swimming. I also took some turns at walking up and down the lane (it felt kind of strange pushing against the water so I only did about 4 laps of water walking), calf raises, and leg lifts. I rotated between all of these options, doing the most laps with the pool buoy, and stayed in the water for a half an hour total.

So you're wondering how my knee is feeling now, right? Well... so far, so good. That's all I can say. There is always the possibility of delayed pain tomorrow. Dr. Dye says it can take 12 - 24 hours for the pain to register knee-to-brain. I can say it was nice to be outside getting a little exercise and I hope I'll be able to continue without another setback. I wonder if my arms will be sore at all tomorrow? I kind of hope so. That would be a good kind of pain. : )