CrossFit and Total Knee Replacement—Part 2
The #1 thing that made me decide to go through with TKR
I went back and forth for a long time over whether it was time to get my bum knees replaced. I sought the opinions of medical professionals, people who have undergone the surgery, friends and coaches at my gym, and randos in online forums. Here’s the #1 reason I decided to proceed:
My world was getting smaller.
I found that bit of wisdom on a Reddit forum, and it’s been stuck in my head for the last several months.
I realized that there were certain things that I could no longer do, and the feeling of decline was visceral. For example:
A year ago, I could lunge; now I can’t. Last December, I signed up for a Christmas CrossFit competition with reasonable scaled options. I planned to do it on my 60th birthday. One of the movements in the workout was overhead kettlebell lunges. While I struggled with the overhead part, I was still fairly comfortable with plain old lunges. Unfortunately, I came down with a nasty stomach bug and was unable to participate in the competition, but I could have done it then. Now, with my knees in such bad shape, I can’t even manage a single lunge without holding onto something. Pathetic.
Until fairly recently, I could do big box step-ups; now, all I can manage is a 12” box. Again, pathetic. I’ve never been able to do box jumps over 12” (I think the longtime ACL tear has a lot to do with that—see Part 1 of this series), but I could at least do respectable box step-ups.
Three years ago, I hiked to Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park. Yeah, it hurt, especially coming down, but going up, while strenuous, was no problem (I credit all the lunges and box step-ups I used to be able to do). This past summer, we took an Alaskan cruise, and I avoided all the hiking excursions because even moderate hiking had become incredibly painful.
I was having more and more trouble getting on the ground to play with our four beautiful grandkids.
We went to a Billy Joel concert in Cleveland in July, and I had trouble walking the mile back to our car. Every step was painful, and I felt like I was dragging my right leg.
Those are but a few examples of how I felt the walls closing in on my ability to stay active. Looking at it from that perspective, I knew it was time.
Coming up in this series: Things CrossFit taught me that I will use to get through TKR; a recap of The Big Surgery Day (1/20); what TKR recovery looks like for a CrossFit athlete; the worst thing I did when preparing for surgery.
The best of luck. Your determination will prevail.