MRI Results Back: Lots Of Thinking To Do

Went to the Ortho yesterday. She's nice. She doesn't tell me what to do.

However, I've got some decisions to make based on what she did tell me.

Here's the good news: The medial and lateral meniscii are in great shape. My ACL & PCL are both nice and thick--thicker than "normal." The femoral and tibial heads are in great shape. I love seeing pics of my parts and watching the Ortho's reaction: She's always somewhat surprised--she expects my joints and my bones to be trashed from all the heavy loading. The reality is it's exactly the opposite. My pics prove what we know but most of the medical field still hasn't accepted: Heavy loading is actually good for the musculo-skeletal system when performed correctly.

Here's the not-so-good news: The fat pad that sits laterally under the patella is being pinched by the patella. She can operate and fix that if I want her to. My quad tendon is about three times thicker than my patellar tendon--again, from heavy loading (Yes!). About 10% of it is torn. Not too bad there. Doesn't require surgery. Even if it did, it wouldn't be "that bad."

Here's the bad news: The cartilage damage I do have couldn't be in a worse place. It's a hole in the cartilage with a "sliver," kind of like a piece about to peel up, just off the center of the patella. All my femoral cartilage is fine. This hole is like a pothole in the road. It gets bigger and bigger as trucks run over the hole, especially the faster the trucks go. More damage can be done to the cartilage at about 45 degrees of knee flexion--think catching a Power Clean or Power Snatch. Or, a Jerk. Or even pulling emphasizing the second pull--just above the knee. This kind of limits what I can do safely. From what I understand, heavy controlled squatting seems to be OK.

Here's the really fun part: Insurance companies do not cover replacing or repairing this cartilage for some strange reason. Out of pocket, it costs 50K. This really makes me consider what I want to do. And the best part, if/when this cartilage does wear out, I won't be able to bend my knee. Cool. That means a knee replacement. More cool.

So what am I going to do?

I don't know.

My Ortho suggested that I could continue to try Olympic lifting. At this point, it seems like a lesson in futility to me. It's kind of like Russian Roulette: There's a bullet in one of the six chambers. You only get lucky five times...

I love me some iron so I may take up--and I can't believe I'm about to say this--Powerlifting. It's the only way I know of to keep on tasting the heavy stuff, which is what I love. I understand you need a 1551 total to be Raw Elite in the 220lbs weight class...Food for thought.