It’s been just over a month since I completely destroyed my knee. The younger version of me might have hurt my knee by jumping out of a tree, falling off a skateboard, or performing a wild karate kick. 49-year-old me hurt his knee stepping out out his car. My left leg got caught underneath my body while I was getting out of my car and my knee bent backward as far as it could bend, which is apparently further than it is supposed to.

For the first few weeks, every time I stood up to walk my knee would lock up and the only way to fix it was to kick my leg out straight a few times until my knee popped, which fixed the problem for an hour or two. Someone told me it sounded like an ACL injury, but I looked up common symptoms of serious knee injuries like “hearing a loud pop,” “major swelling,” and “unable to bear weight” and I don’t have any of those. Right now I’m going with “pulled muscle” and hoping it eventually heals.

For the past few weeks I’ve been visiting Dr. Ibuprofen and Dr. Advil, with occasional treatment from Dr. Whiskey. My knee hurts when I’m using it and throbs when I’m not, and still occasionally locks up when I switch from sitting to walking.

I’ve been walking a bit more this week than I have over the past month and my knee feels slightly better. (Then again that might be Dr. Whiskey talking.) Hopefully through rest and my own makeshift rehabilitation exercises things will get better before a real doctor gets involved.