Wellsy said:
And I will do 8A one day, that hasn't changed.
Tempted to boycott this thread for that soulless numerical insta-ambition :
But....brain dump incoming:
LCL sprain / tear:
The LCL seems mechanically fairly simple, it just sits there, stopping the knee bowing outwards, waiting to be injured mostly by sheer bad luck. Yours (grade 2 partial tear?) sounds a lot worse than mine (grade 1 sprain?), but then again you're young and don't have vascular issues so will probably heal a lot quicker regardless.
Go see a physio shortly. If there's lots of swelling maybe wait for that to die down, otherwise ASAP. The test for LCL injuries is really simple - google LCL tear test for a cheery indication of how it can manifest itself (this put the fear of god into me hence being extra careful in the last 3 months). The physio should be able to diagnose the grade.
Expect that there might be other stuff going on. If there's trauma in the area, other things might have got injured even minorly. The physio I saw ran through all the knee area tests (which were fine) leaving the LCL until last (which was obviously painful / weak on the test).
Acute care:
Expect the pain levels and functionality to go up and down like a fucking yo-yo. I could walk and even body squat on mine without pain when it happened BUT in the next few days I got more pain, bits of swelling, etc, and ended up hobbling more and avoiding squatting.
Get a knee brace. I got this one: https://www.physioroom.com/product/PhysioRoom_Advanced_Hinged_Knee_Brace_Wrap_Around_Knee_Support_for_Rehab_Pain_Relief/3113/38719.html , the only downside is that velcro is abrasive side in, so if it doesn't fit perfectly you might have to put a bit of finger tape around it to stop it rubbing. The brace can make my calf feel a bit achey after exercise from the pressure on it, BUT I found it very useful to give me confidence and a safety net when doing exercise.
Get a simple elastic knee support and wear it in bed so when you're thrashing around with a massive boner working towards ticking that magical 8A, it's there to remind you to treat it gently. I found I got a fair bit of aggravation in bed because the body is more relaxing and rolling over can allow the knee to droop and produce that must-avoid sideways stress.
Rest initially, obviously. I maybe went a little bit far on the rehab initially and had to back off a bit after a couple of weeks.
Leg rehab:
Ligaments are a bit annoying as they don't do much except provide support, so unlike tendons it's harder to steadily increase stress / load through them (eccentrics, slow heavy loading, blah blah) to heal them. There might be better science about this than I know but the protocol seemed to be: Use the area, gently at first, in very controlled, non-aggravational movements, to increase blood flow, stimulate healing in the area, and keep the surrounding muscles strong to provide additional stability.
Walking - was fine for me from the start, on the flat and for normal distances. Over a month or so I built it up to rougher terrain (with the knee brace for support / back-up), and I did find that that improved my rehab quite a bit, the knee would feel "worked" after some walks but better overall and subsequently. Obviously it's being guided by the severity of the injury and being careful not to aggravate it.
Running - you must be fucking kidding don't even think about it.
Cycling - might be possible but do you really want to give the last remnants of your soul away??
Gym membership - get one. Really useful (essential for me) for have a good choice of gentle / stable / controlled leg rehab options, as well as general conditioning. I did quad raises, hamstring curls, and leg presses on the machines, with light weights and very controlled, a few times a week. No it's not nearly as cool as deadlifting a car inside some grotty shed but the machines seem very "safe" for rehab in the right plane of movement.
Stretching - hope you didn't do much glute stretching because that will be impossible. Some general stretching will be fine, again the "simplicity" of the LCL should make it obvious what movements to avoid.
Arm stuff:
1. Don't jump right in to going too heavy on the arm exercises as compensation training.
2. - 10. See 1.
It's worth considering that firstly your body will be trying to heal a lower limb injury so might not want to spare resources / energy to keep niggles and tweaks at bay when you decide that fingerboarding 3 hours a day 6 days a week is the best way to get through this. And secondly you'll be changing your routine to include less climbing and more pure board / finger / arm training, so you'll have to adapt. It might be sensible to DECREASE the total training (including previous climbing) load for a couple of weeks then build it back up to normal, then increased levels.
Psychological stuff:
I'll just dump this here again as I'm getting lazy after the fucking essay above:
http://fiendophobia.blogspot.com/2021/11/strategies.html
I've found there are definitely limits to this but as a whippersnapper just getting into climbing with only the first (?) time-off-climbing, you hopefully will find it manageable after the initial shock.
Also....
Wellsy said:
Elden Ring just came out so that might get a fucking hammering.
As will your bumhole, on most bosses :2thumbsup: