A long journey back to the beautiful game - part 3
clinical ultrasound and a guided steroid injection into the knee joint
“Am I responsible for this? - is this just bad luck or can I do something about it?” - this was the big question for Luca.
This really is about a journey of self-talk, education and reflection; Luca was his own study test, his own experiment. Now he wanted to find out how to solve the experiment…to fix his knee and get back playing the game that he loved…craved for…longed for. As WB Yeats once famously said… “education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire” - a fire had been lit to find out how the parts of his body worked together in harmony without pain or dysfunction.
Lucas’ real quest started - this piece of self awakening. He began to live in the gym, observing himself and others…learning about exercise, training, the human body…everything and anything that could help him move nearer to his goal of playing football again. Time and energy became invested into fully comprehending the inner workings of this knee and all the parts in proximity to it that would influence its function. Luca started devouring podcasts, textbooks, online courses…basically all that he could get his hands on to soak into. This insatiable hunger was there 24/7. “I became my own patient”, Luca recounts.
This caused a downward spiral for Luca mentally and socially. The ramifications of going down the rabbit hole having taken the red pill, to borrow a line from the Matrix, were startling. He broke up with his long-term girlfriend. He started to drink regularly. He fell out with friends. He became reclusive and self absorbed.
The knee and body were being listened to - but at the massive expense of everything else that made Luca content, whole and happy. He still had that big transformational goal but at what cost for his wellbeing?
Perhaps a trip to South America would help…
“The human body is a steed that goes freest and longest under a light rider, and the lightest of all riders is a cheerful heart ”