At what point would you go to the doctor?

davemunger

Glad the x-ray was clear. But, I gotta question the decision to jump on the elliptical because it hurts too much to run. I'm a guy who had a torn ACL and continued to play tennis and run for almost 6 months before going to get examined, so I can talk with the kind of authority that comes from stupidity. Why? What do you lose by taking a week off, or whatever the doc recommended? What do you gain from working out when your soft tissue is all swollen and prone to being aggravated?
Why do runners feel like they have to keep going when they have pain? (Not discomfort. Outright pain)
Seems to me you would heal faster if you didn't aggravate it.
It'll probably still be sore in a week or 10 days -- if you are afraid you are going to miss out on that masochism.
Just trying to inject a little perspective.

I have taken 10 days off before. It was not pleasant trying to come back from that. Took over two months. I will certainly not run if there is pain but if there isn't, the doctor has cleared me to continue running. This is not a torn ACL. This is a bruise that did not damage bones or ligaments.

I have been training since February in an attempt to qualify for guaranteed entry into the New York Marathon. I don't want those months of effort to go to waste, so I will do everything I can to try to come back.

Yes, you are right that there is the possibility that this will continue to be sore in 10 days, but I prefer not to resign myself to that right now. No, I won't do anything to aggravate the injury, but experience has shown me that the longer the break you take, the tougher it is to recover.