The Tale Of A Mythical "Creature" - 7th Feb. 2013

What Is This Cyclops You Speak Of?

Continuing from the last post, my worries and concerns were growing as days went by.  One day it would feel like I had made progress but then the next day it would feel like the angle of my knee had only got worse, not better, quite a roller coaster, both mentally & physically!  For me thought it proved more mentally challenging as I have never had a problem with the physical aspect of things, I've always been active and I've tried many sports down the years.  I used to run cross country from the age of 3/4, very young indeed! I also represented Blackburn at Rugby Union for 5/6 years, playing in age groups well above my actual age, even captaining teams of older age groups, as well as that I've played football since I can remember, probably since I could stand up and I also did various athletics such as hurdling, sprinting, long jump, shot put and javelin and used to be a keen swimmer, now that only really comes in to play at the gym or on holiday, although I do still enjoy swimming, obviously none of those I enjoy as much as playing football.

I'd never been one for getting injured, i'd never broke a bone in my body until I was 18 and you guessed it, that was through playing football too! Broke both my arm and wrist at the same time in a freak tackle incident, although 3 months out was nowhere near the length of my knee injury, it still felt like an eternity!  I'd never really had a muscle injury or even suffered cramp while playing sport to be honest.  I always do a thorough warm up and my fitness levels are generally good, which helps of course but I think my 20 years of injury free legs all caught up in one turn of my body unfortunately!

Arm In It's Sling & Above, My Wrist, Unfortunately No Longer Straight....

Anyhow, relating back to the knee injury, something didn't feel right but the professionals were insistent on giving it more time, more exercise and more of a work out, but I felt personally that something wasn't going right, it didn't feel right and after all, it was my body, I could tell what was going on more than a book or website would tell you!  However, I persisted with the stretches, exercises and some light jogging, not much as my fitness levels were dire and my leg fatigued too easily in a constant running motion.

After a short while, maybe a month or two, we're now in around November 2011, so just over a year has passed since but I had stopped seeing my specialist just after my holiday (the start of August 2011) and physio was also coming to an end, it was just a case of continuing the exercises myself and gradually increasing the amount of physical activity and running I do, at my own speed and when it felt right, still no contact sports for another 4/5 months (from August), so I was planning a return in January 2012, or so I thought anyway.....

This constant restricted feeling was much more serious than I thought it would be, it turned out to be a complication, something I'd never heard of at the time.  As I mentioned earlier, I felt as if something was incorrect, so I returned to my old physio, the one who dealt with my wrist and arm after that (hence the mention of that injury).  Mike Pettigrew was his name, former Blackburn Rovers physio, he had dealt with the likes of Alan Shearer on a daily basis so I felt he was the man to see for this injury.

After a few physio sessions with Mike, I'd had heat applied via machinery, exercises done by Mike himself, my own exercises and various other things such as squats.  He came to the conclusion that I was likely to be suffering from what is called a "Cyclops Lesion" (hence the mythical creature post title).  This is a rare occurrence after an ACL replacement operation and only happens in around 4% of people who have the reconstruction operation, so my luck just seemed to get worse!

Cyclops Lesion, The Nodule Of Fibrous Tissue, Blocking A Full Knee Extension

As mentioned in the caption for the video, a Cyclops Lesion is a nodule of fibrous tissue that forms in the anterior portion of the ACL graft, preventing the leg from fully extending, hence why I felt a restriction in my movement.  This would require another operation to remove it but due to the length of time taken to spot the lesion, my range of movement would never be the same as my left leg, or so I am told.......

More Information on the Cyclops Lesion can be found here http://www.thesportsphysiotherapist.com/cyclops-lesion-following-acl-reconstruction-diagnosis-and-management/