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In the fall of 2007 I started having hamstring problems, which was unusual for me. As a catcher, it was my priority to take care of my body, and I was no stranger to the weight room. My legs were strong and flexible, but after a collision with a first basemen I jammed my patella into the ground, and this started what I believe to be a long chain of events ending in a ruptured PCL. The diagnosis the day after the collision was a baker’s cyst, which is basically a fluid filled sac caused by trauma. It was behind my left knee about the size of a tennis ball, and after ice and treatment it was about the size of a grape. I had limited range of motion and general pain for a few weeks, and my first MRI was inconclusive. The team doctors at UMBC, after doing several tests, decided my knee was functional and I would be fine to move on. The problems seemed to fade away and I only noticed pain after extreme workouts or conditioning. My hamstring never felt the same, I had always attributed it to the baker’s cyst and thought it would get stronger as it went on. When I squatted my hamstring would feel tired, but it was nothing I thought to be serious, so I kept lifting and tried to get my leg in the shape it had been. After the spring season it wasn’t much of anything, and I started my summer lifting program and played in my summer league without pain, so I thought everything was cleared up. Read the rest of this entry »