Recent pain not a big concern

The indoor tennis season began a few weeks ago, which means I'm playing now only once a week instead of three or more times. Not sure if that's a factor of not, but a week ago Monday, in warming up to play in the gym, I did a couple of sets of squats on the rack with two 45 lb. plates, so not that heavy, certainly not close to pre-injury load. Later, on the court, I noticed that landing on my left leg following a serve was pretty uncomfortable. I was feeling pain under my kneecap, so I'd sort of shake it off and keep going, but it limited my leg drive on the serve, and it did affect my mobility, especially moving to my right.

The only other time I have felt any pain since surgery was one occasion working outside where I was squatting down low with knees fully flexed, and it just felt like too much pressure on the joint. This has been the only pain at all I've ever felt since returning to athletic activity late last winter, so it gave me some concern. There was no swelling, and no appreciable pain doing ordinary things. In general, the knee feels loose and reasonably strong, but I need to get stronger. Ski season is coming up and I need to feel confident out there that it won't fail. Again, the hamstring autograft has kind of been an issue. I'm still significantly weaker on the left side and I need that strength to prevent another hyperextension injury.

I played tennis again this last Monday (skipped the squats this time) and did notice a little of the same pain initially, but it went away. So, here's what I've concluded. I'm 51 now (ridiculous, I know) and I'm aware that after about 40, you start losing muscle mass if you're not actually doing strength training. I haven't been doing that kind of exercise consistently for the last 6 months so I'm realizing now that if I don't get on the stick, the strength I need to keep from getting injured again won't be there and I'll start having more symptoms like the pain I've been feeling recently on the tennis court. So screw that -- it's back on the program. The squats I did before playing that one night just fatigued the joint enough, I think, that it wasn't operating smoothly and was probably a little imbalanced.

The fact is, every day is a struggle against a variety of forces that want to slow you down, dull your edge, and drain your willingness to keep fighting. My friend and neighbor Craig can be counted on, in any conversation, to say, "It's always something." It's how you respond that matters.