I went back to the knee doc today. My progress is slow and positive. I have nearly full range of motion, and my strength is still way out of whack, but getting better. The best news of the day, was that scar tissue appeared to have been kept at bay so far. They put me on a new anti-inflammatory drug called bextra, which apparently work better than ibuprophen for some people. the doc said when he was working with the national women's soccer team that 19 out of 20 of them were taking it for injuries, aches, and pains instead of advil. that was a good enough statistic for me. he also talked about glucosamine, and said that while he hasn't seen enough evidence to sign an affidavit, he'd probably take it if he were me. again, thats a good enough statistic for me...what's one more horse pill a day.

I enjoy being the last appointment of the day. I usually wait longer, but the doc and his assistants and interns and colleagues are always in a better mood, always more willing to talk shop. today, i got to listen to a ten minute debate about some hamstring graft study that went entirely over my head. the doc also gave his philosophy about rehab. I'd heard this idea before, but not exactly in this way. He said back when he was starting out the conventional wisdom was that low repetitions/heavy weight built strength and high repetition/low weight built endurance in the muscle. He said he has to come to believe that this axiom does not apply to rehab. The name of the game in rehab is muscle activation. The biggest problem you face in trying to come back are the neurological hurdles. You can make the muscle as strong as you want, but that does not mean that your body will be able to utilize it at the appropriate moment in the stride, or jump, or cut. He went into great detail that quickly went over my head, but i think i understand the distinction, and why he always tell me its important to really push myself in rehab in terms of what activities i can do.