My Body Is Betraying Me

zamphir79

Hello: Turning 43 in a few weeks, and well, I have recently started to feel my age. Or maybe more accurately, feel more than my age.

Back in the summer, I was easily running 6 and sometimes 7k runs several times a week. Then one morning, I got about 3K in when something went "pop" in my calf. I immediately walked back home. Rested the legs for several days, felt better. But I have not been able to get my distance back since.

The calves are just the tip of this decrepit iceberg. When the leg pain made me alter my gait, of course that precipitated issues all the way up and down my locomotive chain: ankles, knees, hips. On both sides, too. I literally have not had a solid week where I didn't have pain in some place of my lower body. Lately, there's been this strange sensation in my left foot like the arch is collapsing and it's a heavy, dull ache that makes even walking painful. It's OK this morning. Whether it will be OK this evening is a coin flip.

A couple of weeks ago, my lower back went into full song. Ironically, the legs and feet were fine throughout. So I cannot catch a break.

I guess my question is this: Why do I feel like I'm falling apart? Lol.

I live in a small-ish town, but we recently did have a physiotherapist set up shop. I'm thinking of making an appointment, but I'm not exactly sure how to present myself. Any suggestions?

yirara

Just describe what you described here, and what you want to achieve/be able to do again. The physio will ask more questions I'm sure and come up with something that might help you. I find that some injuries really can have a massive cascading effect, like an injured ankles: I walk differently -> my lower legs complain and get tight -> I walk even more differently -> my back gets tight and starts to hurt, etc...

spiriteagle99

You might also take a look at your shoes. How many miles do they have on them? They lose support internally before they show wear on the outside. That can lead to a host of injuries. For me, when I start getting odd random injuries, I know it's time to change either my running or walking around shoes.

AnnPT77

Make the appointment. The injury is relevant, and a lot of the rest of what you report sounds like the kind of thing that happens when we compensate for some kind of injury/deficiency. Yirara's phrase "massive cascading effect" captures it well. Physiotherapy is a great avenue, should be just the thing if the one you see is good at his/her job.

Other modalities that may help alongside: Sports massage therapy, osteopathic manipulation. Physiotherapy is core, though.

Take heart: At 43, it's unlikely you're falling apart in any kind of permanent, unavoidable way. You have an unpleasant, possibly annoying phase to be gotten through, but your odds of getting through it are excellent. (I'm 66. I've had phases, trust me. I'm still active, and most of those phases are in the past now. I don't feel older than my years: The reverse, actually.)

If you're trying to lose weight now, as many here are, this would be a good time for a break (or at least a super-slow loss rate target), until you heal. Good nutrition, too, whether you have weight management goals right now or not. You need nutrients and calories to heal.

Djproulx

OP, As a frequent flyer in physical therapy, I'd second the advice above.

I'll also offer a perspective gained from "learning it the hard way" on a number of occasions. If you are suffering from a calf injury that has triggered soreness in other posterior chain muscle groups, its a pretty safe bet that those or other symptoms will continue and/or get worse without fixing the root cause. Trying to "run through" these issues is a surefire way to becoming sidelined. The point is that addressing the issue and allowing time for proper recovery, while hard to accept, is preferable to losing months to a chronic injury caused by letting a small issue fester. My most recent example is losing 15 months to a chronic achilles injury that required dozens of PT and Chiropractic visits to finally correct.

The good news is that you're not breaking down due to your "advanced" age of 43. At 65 years old, I'm very confident that you'll have many more years to enjoy running.

csplatt

I had a similar feeling at 39. I'd always had an imperfection in my spine but all of a sudden it ruined my ability to exercise vigorously. So many doctors appointments, scans, physical therapy. I have not been able to return to my previous routine (two year later), but I have been able to maintain my size via diet and I ended up taking on a new hobby to fuel my mental health. I started taking piano lessons, and I volunteered to make costumes for our school's theater department. These are things I would have never considered before. I still grieve the state of my back, but the other things help.

BrianSharpe

Another vote in favour of seeing the physiotherapist.

How long have you been running for? Has there been a significant increase in distances recently?

Are you cross training? (Swimming, biking, strength training, rowing etc?)

One of the things that I've found as I get older (I'm a decrepit 66) is that I have to make sure that I'm getting adequate recovery time and, as I train for races, have to ramp up my training volume much more slowly than when I was 50.

Best of luck!

Jthanmyfitnesspal

As we get older, we all can use regular advice from a PT. Getting advice about resistance training from a qualified trainer is also very helpful.

Runners seem to hit a wall at some point in life. Diversify your activities. I actually added running (jogging, really) in my 50s and I do slow long-distance events. But, I never run more than three times a week, also swimming and cycling on other days. Also, it helps to do resistance training for a few months out of the year (I do it in winter).

Outdoor cycling is really fun, but it seems like runners gravitate to indoor cycling (spinning), where you can pace your workout without regard for terrain, traffic, or streetlights. Basic spin bikes are very affordable. Fancy ones (like Peloton) cost more. Lots of places offer classes (SoulCycle in the US), which make it a lot more fun.

Best of luck!

Xellercin

Perhaps change the frame of reference a bit?

Bodies are high performance machines that need to be optimally maintained. You can't just red line them indefinitely and not expect parts to break down.

PT is the cornerstone of my keeping my body and functional as possible. I have a complex genetic condition that literally makes my body fall apart if I don't carefully care for it, and PT is how I keep it all held together.

All you have to do is just show up. The PT will assess you and give you customized recommendations.

Through PT you can dramatically increase your understanding of your body's needs and become much more intuitive about when you can push and when you need to throttle back the intensity of an activity because it's causing too much strain.

Physical fitness isn't just about pushing your body hard, it's about understanding the small supportive structures that keep everything working properly.

Hard exercise takes a huge toll. If you don't balance it out, the damage can be cumulative and massive.