The Long Journey

It has been 8 weeks since my Anterior Cruciate Ligament was reconstructed after a football injury and I am now managing almost a full normal bend of the knee, running, lifting weights and swimming.

It has been pretty tough keeping up the motivation of going to the gym six times a week but it is really paying off now. I saw my physio this morning who has said everything is fine and I am making good progress, so now I will be pushing it harder and moving onto longer running and more weights.

I was fortunate to get private treatment for all this so the physio setup is top quality. Next time I am in I will be testing out the leg strength to identify any weaknesses. It is also said that the Bolton players use the place (Euxton Hall in Chorley) but I am yet to bump into any!

The one difficulty I have had is with my hamstring, part of which was used to reconstruct the ligament. This left it weak and I have tweaked it a couple of times since so I am bit behind on strengthening those muscles.

It feels like I have been working at this forever, but 8 weeks is not really a long time. I have only been at the gym for 4 weeks also even though it is now like a second home.

My aim is to be football training by June, which will be about 5 months after the op and with a target of July/August for a competitive game.

I have learned a lot from this injury, but most importantly I have realised how much I had taken fitness for granted. Before the injury I had spells at going to the gym but never really had a proper plan or goal, meaning I didn’t keep it up properly or didn’t get the full benefit.

So with that in mind, maybe this is the wake up call I needed which means I will be able to keep active for longer and enjoy it more.

Roll on June!