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The Background

So there I was training on Monday night as per usual.  Everyone else was sparring, Id decided to opt out of sparring because my right knee was giving me some trouble (more on that later) So I decided to practice some sparring drills by myself. I jumped back from left l-stance while performing an inward cresent kick with the right. Thats when it hit. When I landed on my left foot, it felt like someone had hit the back of my left knee with an iron bar. Infact, so convinced was I that this was the case, I turned (no doubt with a look of disgust on my face) to see who had done it (and with the intention of dishing out some hard justice) Of course, no-one there. At this point I became accutely aware of a by no means trivial amount of pain in my knee. Falling to the ground and copious amounts of swearing ensue. ...

Day 1. Knee is the size of a football. couldn't drive home, struggling to walk on it. But go to work anyway (what a hero!) Book an Appointment with the doc to check it out

Day 2: Doc thinks it could be the cruiciate ligament - suggests I get an MRI scan before deciding on a treatment. I can go private and get a scan in four days, or go NHS and get a date for a scan in three weeks. Private it is then! Talking with a few people I find out that if it is the cruiciate ligament, its basically 18 months of physio, with Tae Kwon Do training out of the question during that period. Not the news I want to hear.

Day 3: MRI Scan day. You always see these devices on the TV and it all seems like a fairly relaxed affair. The machine gently and silently swooshes into its belly and performs whatever technical procedures (which presumably involves magnets) it has to do in order to get an image of your insides. Just to confirm, its nothing like that! The MRI scanner at the Alex in cheadle is (from what I can tell) quite old, and damned loud. "No problem sir, you get a set of headphones through which we pipe soothing music" the very helpful operator tells you. All well and good, but the music is still drowned out by various loud sounds which are not dissimilar to a pneumatic drill. Infact whilst in the waiting room, I thought they were have some renovations done! but no, just the poor soul who was previous to me. Anyway, music is piped through the headphones to "help you relax". Bare in mind that getting an MRI scan is not a two minute process. Just to do my left knee took over 15 minutes. So I mentally prepare myself for a fairly boring quarter of an hour, with only lift music to entertain me.

Its suprising easy to relax into it and tune out the unpromising noises comming from the MRI scanner. Before long I could feel myself drifting into a gentle day dream type state. Interrupted however by the operator keeping me upto date with the progress of the scan. "Oh! Thats helpful" I hear you say, and Yes you're right it is. Until you take into consideration that the volume on the operators mike is set so high, that when she speaks, its as if someone has taken shouting their updates through a loud speaker placed right next to your ear. Needless to say, my tranquil state was not maintained for very long.