My Baby Broke My Knee - And How I Fixed It

You know those moments where you sacrifice your own body in order to keep the child comfortable?

I was a proud new dad to my new baby son, but I was frustrated because he wasn’t letting me get comfortable. My back was hurting as I stood holding him, so after he fell asleep, I was happy to lay on the couch with him. I was able to lie on my back with the baby laying on my chest. 

😴 “Good night” (or so I thought). 

I did manage to fall asleep, but for some reason woke up at 1:00 am. It was a cold cold night in late February 2012. And now I was wide awake. I figured it was probably a good idea to get off the couch and into bed. As I gingerly sat up, still trying to keep the baby's head straight, I performed the wackiest squat motion ever. The baby was fine, but my knee twisted in a position that it was definitely not designed to do.

No pain, fortunately. But my left quad contracted as if I was lifting 1000 pounds. I went to bed, grateful that I avoided a potential crisis with that weird squat. 

😴 “Good night” (again).

But it was not such a good morning. When my eyes opened at 7:00 AM, I was unable to stand up. Even putting 100% of my weight on my “good” leg created a pain so intense that I felt like vomiting. My left knee felt as if somebody was hitting it with a hammer constantly.

For the next three days I stayed in bed, and the pain was still so bad that I peed in a bucket next to the bed. It hurt so bad that there was no way I was walking to the bathroom. I was not only embarrassed, but also felt useless around the house. 

Three days after the “knee punch,” I went to two separate physical therapists, and both gave me the same unfortunate news: I would need surgery… like, yesterday.

How did this happen? Self-doubt filled my mind. I was fit, active, and healthy. Above that, I had spent the last eight years studying muscle balance, core strength, and joint function. This doesn’t happen to people who know what I know.

Realistically, it did happen. And now I had to figure it out. “Come on, think!!” I had rebelled against pro-surgery doctors' orders with past injuries in my neck, lower back, and ankle. Was it my knee that would finally force me under the knife?

Self-doubt crept in:

🤷‍♂️“Maybe I’m just getting older.”

🤷‍♂️“Maybe the body only has natural healing ability until you’re 29.” 

🤷‍♂️“Maybe I’ve been kidding myself all along.”

I doubted everything I believed about the body’s ability to heal itself, because this time it was “so bad.” I told myself that my past injuries were somehow different.

I remember them like they happened last week:

🥇In high school when I hurt my neck, I told myself that it was “just a muscle strain,” and it was mostly better in four days. Yes, true, I couldn’t go to school for that entire week, because my ear seemed to be stuck to my shoulder.

🥈A year later, in college, I remembered when I was stuck to the couch, unable to stand up at Super Bowl halftime. Yes, it was embarrassing that my friend’s uncles had to pick me up and carry me to the car, but that healed itself within a few years. 

🥉And my basketball career was peppered with twelve (yes, TWELVE!) ankle sprains. All that swelling and inflammation. At the point I hurt my knee I hadn’t sprained my ankle in about a decade.

I thought back over my long and storied history of “surgery level” injuries. I remembered my defiance, not wanting to get surgery. But I was older now, surely, I couldn’t do it again.

But there was something in me that still wanted to pitch a perfect game, to be undefeated, and to feel like I was firing on all cylinders. This would be another brick in my legacy if I figured it out.

Over the next few months, I proceeded to do everything that I knew of to heal my knee: 

👉🏼I did the exercises that also helped me heal my back, neck, and ankles. 

👉🏼I went to acupuncture a few times per month. 

👉🏼I went to massage a few times a month as well.

I was diligent. I was motivated. I had “burned the boats” and told myself that now it was time for the rubber to meet the road, and see if my system actually worked.

Fast forward twelve years later, and still no surgeries. At 43 I’m pain-free in my back, neck, ankle, AND knee. And I continue to do the exercises that put me into that pain-free state.

Going through those catastrophic injuries, there were times where I wondered “why me?” And now I know… Without going through that pain, I couldn’t help other people with theirs. Getting rid of back, neck, knee, shoulder, and hip pain is not magic, and it does not happen overnight. But I have seen it more than 1000 times with my clients.

I started out as a rookie, not knowing what to do or if it was even possible. But I decided to believe that the human body has the ability to heal itself, given the right conditions. Today, that’s not just a belief, but a deep conviction I have after seeing thousands of people for more than 20 years become pain-free, just like I did. And the good news is, you can too.