Cathartic Thread For Injured Runners, er support for managing injuries. ;-)
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Popping in here after being MIA for a while..
@Elise4270 I hope things are coming along with your healing!!
I seem to have a bit of acute plantar fasciitis, and so am spinning my wheels. I’d finally gotten back into the swing of things after a July that really set me back running-wise, and now seem to be sidelined again. And then I swam a mile on Friday and again yesterday and seemed to have irritated a chronic subluxation issue that I have (hmm.. overdo it much?)
Planks seem to make all injured parts feel better (what fun!)
I haven’t yet seen a sports medicine doctor for running pain—I like to avoid doctors in general but am getting too old for that behavior. So that’s the plan this week, we’ll see how that goes..1 -
Day 11
Drugs.
Norco again last night. After talking to dh, I've abandoned trying to make the Tylenol 3 work without feeling "gross". Mental note to let the surgeon know, I hate the T3 and he should never prescribe those to me ever again. I have 3 bottles now that I'll never be able to use, even if I needed them.
Hip.
Better and better each day. I do have an odd sharp pain when I bend forward. It's not in the hip, but above and feels like a stitch poking. I'm hoping it's just a nerve being silly. I may ask if it persists. I have permanent sutures in my abdominal wall from diastasis recti repair... (Abdominal muscle separation from pregnancy- cosmetic). I hope it's not related, although that surgery has been so long ago, if the sutures had to be removed in part, it shouldn't compromise the muscle placement. I'm betting the culprit is a nerve.
Knee
The lingering knee pain I had after the osteotomy seems to be on the mend. I find myself excited about running, jumping, karate, soccer, kick boxing, hiking...
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Good luck @simcon1 . A sports doc isn't reeeeaaaalllly a real doc... I mean, they are usually just great at coaching you through an injury. That help? Get to a sports coach if ya need one. 😉
Yeah, I kind of don’t even know where to start! It turns out that I can’t get in to see the sports medicine doc until 10/15. And I’m in the middle of travelling for work every other week until Thanksgiving. Then I have two snowboarding trips planned before Xmas. No sob story there, I just would love a working foot for all of that..
And—having nothing to do with that but making life more complicated—have two non-functional kitchens (finished basement just got asbestos abatement, upstairs got ripped out because of some flooding) and two only semi-functional bathrooms at the moment.
I’m thinking a therapist should maybe be priority #1, followed by a competent contractor... but a coach would be good sometime!
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@simcon1 oh wow! Ya that sounds busy and crazy. I suppose you could nurse the planter faciatis best you can until an appointment rolls around. Maybe a frozen water bottle would help, roll it out and ice it.
I know it can be resistant to healing and horribly inconvenient. I have a book, I'll look up the treatment for it and share it later.
I started having back, hip, legs pain in March of 2012. It took til August of 2015 before I found the right diagnosis and someone to treat me. Point is, don't give up. Maybe bike, swim, lift or what have you til it heals.1 -
@simcon1 - I don't know if it could be an option but I have a sports chiropractor who treated my PF a few years ago. I actually tore it and he helped me get through the healing, I think much more quickly. It was much easier for me to see him because insurance wasn't involved and didn't cover it. The cost was not exorbitant and he worked with me to limit the number of visits.2
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Where are we?
Day 12
Norco again last night. I think perhaps tonight I’ll try to sleep with just Tylenol. No sense in making the Norco a habit and using up my stash. With dh out of town I think I woke up once, maybe thrice instead of 15 times. No cats, no dh... I slept okay.
Hip is surprisingly stiff and cranky today. I should make a point to do my bike pt and the CPM today. I’ve already got the ice. I’ve been good, using crutches outside the house... but ya, I should be using them inside too. It’s so hard when I can hobble short distances with free hands. I could use at least 1 crutch in the house. Si joint is sore too.
Doc Friday. Brusing is gone, except the IV which always appears to have bore the brunt of more trauma than needed, and the incisions are coming along, I can still see the pucker of a suture under the skin with each incision. It itches a bit.0 -
Thanks, @shanaber and @Elise4270 for the suggestions and encouragement! I’ll look up sports chiropractors in the area and see who’s around. I’m nursing away with icing, compression socks, inserts, stretching, foam rolling, not running. I’m not walking pain-free yet, but maybe by my trip next week? I swam a mile on Friday and another on Sunday, which feels great for maintaining my aerobic fitness, but triggered an old upper back twinge (also probably too much too soon with that!) My next plan while I wait to be seen is the rowing machine—we’ll see how that goes! I’m fed up with my HMO, and haven’t had a good primary care doc since I moved here in 2014, so am planning to switch for wider coverage in Nov/Jan, so that should open up some better options. Seattle is crawling with middle-aged sporty folks, so there’s definitely good care here of all kinds, I just have to figure out how to best access it.1
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Where are we?
Day 12
Norco again last night. I think perhaps tonight I’ll try to sleep with just Tylenol. No sense in making the Norco a habit and using up my stash. With dh out of town I think I woke up once, maybe thrice instead of 15 times. No cats, no dh... I slept okay.
Hip is surprisingly stiff and cranky today. I should make a point to do my bike pt and the CPM today. I’ve already got the ice. I’ve been good, using crutches outside the house... but ya, I should be using them inside too. It’s so hard when I can hobble short distances with free hands. I could use at least 1 crutch in the house. Si joint is sore too.
Doc Friday. Brusing is gone, except the IV which always appears to have bore the brunt of more trauma than needed, and the incisions are coming along, I can still see the pucker of a suture under the skin with each incision. It itches a bit.
What a long long haul! I’m so glad you got some sleep, and good luck getting into the habit of using crutches inside...!
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@simcon1 - another thing I thought of was that you could try some water/aqua running. I did that when I had my stress fracture and it can be a tough workout. Maybe it won't bother your back so much.
I’m very curious about aqua running, but not sure where I can do it—more googling!
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Day 13
Well nothing different to report. I did take a Norco.. tonight we’ll just do Tylenol. The hip is starting to stiffen up. I’d be concerned if this was my first surgery and I didn’t know that it’s been typical to have an increase of pain about day 10. I see PA/CNA Friday. So he’s really great with ALL of my questions.
Hope everyone is on the mend!1 -
i actually went for a run last night with speed demon.
i've definitely lost some of my fitness. so has she.
but the running made me itch from the lingering reaction to the antibiotics.
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Day 14
I had the thought that I might have been a horse in a previous life... I’m waiting for someone to just put me down. Or it’s just a nonsensical thought from watching A Doctors Notebook on Netflix. I’m up to the episode of the second horse.
No meds last night. I slept fine, but dh is home and so I was awoken 105 times. I’m angry. Not at dh, at this pain. I know it gets worse about this time. I know it’ll pass or the docs will take care of it, yet it still frustrates me and I’m angry at everything. I feel caged by pain and can’t get free. I asked dh for morphine last night, I think he ignored me. I really don’t like morphine, remember? I can’t even stomach codine. See, that’s a joke. (See Dr’s Notebook regarding morphine).
Not taking meds at night are okay. It’s the AM pain that seems to be worse. That improves once I get my gimpy rear up and grab coffee, feed the baby monster (only cat still on a feeding schedule)- the big baby, let the rouge rodent catcher in for some real food... the hip eases up.... until I sneeze. GAH! FARTS and CRACKERS!
Well. I guess it’s not all bad and I’m okay with not being a horse, or morphine addict.2 -
I hope things go well today, @Elise4270!1
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Thanks @simcon1 ! It really did.
I had a reply then lost it... so meh, we’ll do a quicker recap.
Add a stretch
Might swap the pain killer for the Valium (that’s my thinking since through the discussion it became clear that its tightness happening laying down all night). The added stretch will help.
I need to make sure I’m taking it easy. The hip is stiff and probably tighter than it should be. I can’t do the anti-inflammatory meds. They’ll take extra care watching the X-rays for rogue growth. Ice all I want.
Crutches one more week, then 1 crutch one week.
No kickboxing. Yet.
Start return to running program maybe 12 to 16 weeks post.
My doc is so cool, I got pics.
You can see that it’s all rather red. This is first in with the hip distracted. I think it looks good despite the inflammation, cute little ligamentum teres there. I specifically asked how often he finds them torn and it was about 70%. The literature I’d read also sited a large percentage, which i doubted and why I asked. So I was glad to be in the 30%. Surely that why he got me such a nice pic.2 -
I’m still just hanging out here. I found out that taking two days off swimming and altering my freestyle catch fixed my upper back issue, so at least I can keep up some aerobic fitness reasonably easily. But I do find the miles swimming are so much more boring.. I’m still having some pain when I walk, almost every time, so no running quite yet. I missed an appointment that came up from the wait list, because I didn’t get the email for 10 min—so I switched to text alerts to have a better shot. And I haven’t come up with a place for aqua jogging. Have just talked the kids into a 20 mi fall bike ride this afternoon, though, so we’ll see how that goes! I’m hoping we don’t freeze (unseasonably cold here, with low snow levels that just dumped a bunch of snow on the pass where we ski/snowboard, about 45 min from where we’ll be biking!)2
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@simcon1 I awoke this morning and realized I failed to look up PF in my book for even the slightest hint of help for you. I didn't forget about you, just forgot about the book.
I think I have the pages loaded in order. If not and you prefer, I can email them to you.. if so I'll actually scan it to ensure its readable.
I had a coworker who's wife had it. I wasn't sure it was of until I read the book and the prp injectors as treatment. She wasn't a runner. I'm not sure how active she was. It’s horrible, the book says it can last months to years, don't neglect it. ETA the injectors helped her.
So even if the appointments are out a bit, it'll be worthwhile. The text mentions poor blood flow as the culprit for slow healing. Like tendonitis/tendonosis. I wonder if occasion heat and massage would help with blood flow.
Anyway, I've kept you in my thoughts. Hope you find relief.
RUNNING STRONG JORDAN METZL
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Day 17
The suggested stretch has made a significant difference. I don’t sleep in pain, no meds. My gait continues to feel stronger. Yesterday, I actually felt like I could try to run, but i know that I can’t or shouldn’t unless I want to hurt myself.
I really need to embrace this stationary bike pt. I’ve been bad about it. But, I think that’s because I’m busy with school studies and trying to keep this house half way clean. I’m struggling in my biochem class, perhaps I can dedicate some bike time to videos or listening to the lectures again.1 -
@simcon1 I awoke this morning and realized I failed to look up PF in my book for even the slightest hint of help for you. I didn't forget about you, just forgot about the book.
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Thanks so much for posting this, @Elise4270! I’ve been googling away, and this added some ideas to what I’ve been doing until I can get an appt. I had no trouble reading the pics!
And biking ended up working out fine yesterday, with a bit of a late start. So we only got about 16 mi in before it got dark (and I still have never been to the end of this bike path, which I keep wanting to do!). But in good news, I found the keys to my locks, which had been lost since a trip in mid-August where I wasn’t the unpacker, so I can incorporate some bike commuting back in as well. And it was pretty and nice to be outside... all really valuable because my work is so darn stressful at the moment and for the foreseeable future!
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@elise4270 and @simcon1 - my sports chiro used the k-laser on my PF and taped it (with KT tape). It made a huge difference. The objective of the k-laser is to increase the blood flow to the area and the heat seems to help with the pain. The taping just provided more support while it was healing.
Glad the stretch is helping @Elise4270! That is great news and sounds like it is healing well. hope the cycle/studying works! I have seen people at the gym read and study while on the bikes. Me, I watch movies... never anything productive 🤣1 -
@shanaber I think you mentioned the k laser before. That’s probably a great idea!
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Day..... oh I don’t know anymore. I think my brain has come loose, just shorting out.....18? Yes 18.
I’m exhausted. Most of my muscles hurt on my right side from my quads to my ribs. The little medial glute is probably the most unhappy. Then the left is on fire. I was hoping it’d (all) get better as I progress, which it might, but in the mean time, waiting, it sucks. I didn’t sleep well last night. I froze all night long and can’t curl up on my side since it aggravates my hip. Froze. Like an inverse hot flash, it means AF is lingering.
I’ll get on the bike today. Might have a nap first though. Had a low dose Valium, I don’t know if it’ll help “angry” or not. If I get desperate I can always reach out to my people for advice. I feel like a massage would help, I put my burning left butt / piriformis on a tennis ball last night and it was seemingly unproductive. So, maybe it wouldn’t be. Just a “two steps back” kind of day.2 -
Day 24...
wow, 24 already? The osteotomy surgery seemed to take 6 years to get past 3 weeks. That might have been the norco though. Today isn't any different than day 18 up thar. I should expect pain and grumblings for up to 6 months and with the past surgeries, it seems I take the full time to recover. Thanks age and other various ailments.
I haven't reached out to the office regarding the left butt fire. I'm doing all I know to help that side and am just hoping its a strength issue. But... I could be in denial. Doc said I'd be read to run come spring. Surely he wasn't just being optimistic, giving me hope? I'll probably send an email this week. That side is nerve related and it's likely not a good idea to ignore a mad, previously damaged nerve. *grumble grumble*
oh I am suppose to be standing on the right leg, one leg stand for strength. I don't like it. I'm weak and it hurts, but I notice if I suck it up and do it, my muscles fire where I don't limp... for a short time. yay!
ETA and my IV bruise is almost gone. 24 days... sheesh. stab folks much?0 -
@Elise4270 Hang in there, sounds like slowly getting better for you.
My PF is getting much better. Spent the last three days at my oldest brothers helping them prepare for an auction sale of the family farm. Wearing High Top Hiking boots as they feel the best. So lots of walking, bending, lifting etc. Should have worn my garmin but was afraid I would break it. My foot, heel and ankle were pain free this morning.
The Family Farm 74 years of collection to sort through.
The common quote is " If you have to ask if it is junk - it is junk and should be binned ".
Finding some treasures - my grandpa was a machinist in Canada ( think heavy equipment mechanic - Tanks, Trucks, Ships etc ) in WW2 and the first thing a machinist had to do was build a set of tools for his use. Found his old tool case and some tools in the Attic of the garage. We are taking them to the local museum to ensure they are protected and never sold off to some private collector.2 -
@juliet3455 Wow, that’s sounds like an amazing find! Awful that the farm is being sold out of the family. I’m glad the PF is better with the high top boots, you may be on to something there!0
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@Elise4270 It might be the extra support of the footbed or the high tops, all I can really say is they were the boots/shoes that felt the best and seemed to give relief - not cause additional discomfort.1
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Eh, I reached out to my peeps about this pain... the suggestion was continue with crutches, 1 or 2 if I’m off of them as I may not be adjusted enough to be off them.
1) I am off them. I noticed the pain was so much more severe using them. But, I may try them again today. Sometimes my peeps are right.
2) this started before the last surgery.
3) I don’t wanna bother following up with the office on it again. it’ll just hurt til the next appointment and I can take Tylenol or stockpiled Norco at night. Email isn’t a good substitute for a face to face.
4) rest absolutely helps. And I’ll continue to keep activity to a minimum
I do think I’ve been to aggressive with the stretching and will reign that in to see if things calm down.
Don’t mind me, I’m in a “giving-up, cry-baby mood” today.
There’s an invite at university for tennis, lead by a past pro... I wanna play so bad. Maybe the next life.1 -
Another day...
I feel I’m at a plateau with pain. I can’t seem to even keep covers on me because I toss and turn so much. One’s on the floor, I added a second one because I can’t keep the one and get cold, it winds up at the foot and my sheet is to the middle of the bed. So, I need to start taking something at a night and if dh feels it’s a valid purchase, I may go back to an inexpensive sleeping bag.
I’m tired.
But I’m reminded this morning of a fellow I knew ages ago, mark. Mark was in a motorcycle accident and spend 3-6 months in the hospital, a fair amount of it in a coma and lost a leg. If you asked him how he was doing his reply was always “I’m upright and walking “. Tired is fine. I’m upright and walking too.2 -
@elise4270 - I know you don't particularly like hugs but I am sending you a virtual one anyways! Is the discomfort expected? I really thought it was going to be better. Can you do anything to alleviate the pain when you sleep - pillow under your leg, between your knees, something, anything? Would acupuncture, massage or something like that help? Sure hoping you find something that helps!1
This discussion has been closed.