Several steps away from the tub that my just washed & dried puppy jumped into, with a toothbrush in one hand, and a mouth full of toothpaste I calmly call mom away from the tv. “Erm, mom, I think I need some help”. Understatement of the year, as my knee was in a weird position and could not be unlocked…

Scroll to the bottom of this post if you’re only interested in reading about remedies to treat knee injury.

I had been pretty busy the whole day, vacuuming, gleefully using the new steamer cleaner, and driving from store to store for errands. On top of that I decided puppy-babe needed her bath with delicious new coconut shampoo. This is what my day off looks like. Oh no, please no pity, I was happy! I enjoyed all the tasks & achievements and was even early for bed.

As I am brushing my teeth and with one hand picking out my pajama’s, I hear my dog bark at something unidentified in the bathroom followed by a squeaky thump that sounded much like she jumped in the tub. My clean dry puppy… in a tub that was not clean and dry yet. So of course I rush over to get her out. Unfortunately my whole body except my left leg turns. Which brings me to the intro of this blog post.

With some fiddling, Arnica, a hot pack, and a a cold pack, I managed to snap my knee back to where it belonged, hopped to bed and expected all would be ok the next morning. Unfortunately the next day all symptoms pointed to a likely torn meniscus. Praise God that the check up with my lovely fysio reassured me that wasn’t the case, and that I had “just” banged up the cartilage and my ACL. It will take a couple of weeks, but with homeopathic remedies I expect a relatively quick recovery. Plus, some introspection on how this happened may accelerate healing too. In the very least it will help me assess if I’m still going in the right “direction” – pun intended.

What my knee injury is telling me about my emotional state

Any patient of mine will tell you that I like to try and figure out if there is a link with their physical symptoms & their emotional state. With good reason. Ever heard the term being “pissed”? Well, 9 out of 10 of my patients struggling with recurring UTI’s & cystitis have major suppressed anger. Once they face that anger – with the help of remedies – and resolve it, the chain of recurring infections is broken.

What about this one. Singers that have a big audition or performance coming up and suddenly they contract tonsillitis or lose their voice. You treat the underlying fear of failure and “tadaa” voice back.

Back to the knee. When I raced to the bathroom to get puppy out, I was interrupted with the normal night routine. My body got that, that is… half of it. Half rushed to the tub while half stood still, hence the twisted knee. Turns out this has actually been happening a lot. Writing this post is already taking me 2,5 hours because I feel the need to reply immediately to every incoming messages. There is something there about “being pulled in different directions”. Right? Deep, I know.. *wink wink*

Seriously though, I can indeed testify to the fact that I have been running around too much in different directions just alone by treating patients in Europe, Asia, North America & Australasia. I always jokingly say I wake up with Australia and go to bed with the US. I have perhaps also been taking on a little too much enthusiastically jumping the social media train.

If you don’t buy the “pulled in different directions bit” though, fair enough. How about the fact that when you’re stressed that your muscles & tendons tighten up? Now how flexible do you reckon those will be, not to mention your joints? That’s just asking to snap or strain something.

What gave me a little more insight was the following. One of the reasons I thought my meniscus might be in trouble was the fact that I lost strength on the inner part of my knee (right under the kneecap), could not pull myself up the stairs with the left leg or engage the clutch when driving. Turns out that trauma in the knee causes fluid buildup and as a result the muscles above the knees that “steer” your knee, just stop working. It is a defense mechanism. The body detects trauma that needs healing and forces you to rest. Hang on… isn’t this exactly what I tell my Adrenal Fatigue & Hypothyroidism study patients? Stress causes the adrenals to overwork and as a result the thyroid starts to work sluggishly to drop your metabolic rate to force you to rest by making you sleepy & cold!

Clever body…

Return of old symptoms

The fact that I injured my knee right at this time had another reason which has to do with my own homeopathic treatment. You see, this knee is the same knee I injured when I was 9 years old and cruising down some white slopes. Unfortunately the torn ligament was misdiagnosed and mistreated at the time which left one doctor to decide to treat it with a cortisone injection. OUCH! Traumatic experience alone. I don’t remember the injection doing much after the excruciating pain of the first 24 hours, but I do remember the growing pains were a nightmare with the scar tissue that formed and wasn’t flexible. After I was done growing, the knee never bothered me again.

However, having seen the repercussions of cortisone (steroid) use in many of my patient cases over the past years, and the incredible results of detoxing steroids, I decided I should detox it myself as well, which I did this early summer. Shortly after finishing the detox is when I injured this same knee that I had the cortisone injection in! Although it is a mechanical injury, we call this a “return of old symptoms” in homeopathy, which is always an excellent indication of healing and the right “direction of cure”. So although my knee is busted again, my overall health is going in a better direction. Once my knee is healed, I’ll be better off than before!

Treating my knee injury

Needless to say, my body calling me to a halt has woken me up and so I’m assessing my to-do list for what really is essential and what isn’t. I’ve re-inspired myself by watching this video again by Brendon Burchard about goal setting & time management. This includes scheduling rest, family time & time to be creative.

Homeopathically I am self-treating with:

• Rhus Tox – for injured ACL (great for all muscle injuries or just soreness after a work-out)
• Ruta – for injured tendons (useful also in sprained ankles & wrists)
• Arnica – for trauma & bruising
• Calcarea Phosphorica – to support healing of the cartilage (very helpful also with rib injuries which normally heal very slowly)
• Bryonia – my number 1 knee injury remedy which has saved many of my brother’s knee injuries playing baseball

Not all homeopaths are a fan of using multiple remedies, but having worked at a homeopathic pharmacy, and being trained both in classical & practical homeopathy, I am happy to use several remedies for injuries like these. I have a combination of Arnica, Rhus Tox & Ruta in 200c which I recommend for every athlete to have in their sports bag for emergencies. It is also excellent to apply the cream version on the injured part as long as the skin isn’t broken.

For the first two days I will alternate that with Bryonia 30c and then replace it with Calcarea Phosphorica in 6x. Soon I’ll drop the Bryonia and support further healing just with Calc Phos.