itbs

still injured…

/ Brienna / 1 Comment

I went hiking about 10 days ago with some friends, and had a blast! We hiked about 6 miles, uphill for the first half, and had a great view from the top.

Boccardo trail

The only problem with this hike was the downhill part really hurt my knee. So much so, that I was pretty much unable to walk the remainder of the day.

The good news is this motivated me to finally make an appointment for physical therapy. Ortho gave me a recommendation about 5 weeks ago, but since I was going on three separate trips in July, I thought I’d wait until August to get started.

I’ve only had two appointments so far, but I have tried my best to do the stretches (side-lying quad stretch, supine hamstring stretch, and supine glute stretch: 3x of each for 30 seconds, 2x day minimum) and exercises (hip extension, adduction, abduction, and flexion with resistance: 3 sets of 5 each plus 1-2 sets of 10 wall squats) as prescribed.  Today we added more to the list:  calf stretches, step-ups, and normal squats.  Pretty soon it will feel like I do nothing but stretches and exercises all day long!

So far, I haven’t noticed much improvement, but I also haven’t noticed any further incidences of severe pain. My therapist did say it felt less tight today than it did last week, which is good. She also used a technique called “instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization.”  Let’s just say that it was not fun.

I was in Maui last week on vacation, and I went snorkeling, sailing, swimming, snorkeling some more and attempted to surf. I really wanted to go for a run on the beach, but I’ve been told to take a break from running (boo). Hopefully I’ll be able to start back up again this weekend or next week. I’m leaving for Romania on business tomorrow, and I will be spending the weekend in Munich. I may see if I can do some swimming or a light treadmill run at the hotel this weekend.

It was only on the way home, after sitting in the plane for 5 hours that my knee started hurting.  And actually, the WRONG knee started hurting. I’m not sure if this is a good sign or a very, very, very bad sign.

This knee injury is really putting a wrench in the PR I was hoping to have at the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon in 38 days. I am way behind in my training plan, so I guess this means I’ll just have to pick another 1/2 marathon to run next year for my PR. 🙂  Maybe I’ll try Big Sur or go back to Santa Cruz.

pain, pain, go away!

/ Brienna / 2 Comments

I finally got a referral to an orthopedic doctor to look at my knee. It’s been bothering me since the end of April, and really hampering my training for Disney.

The good news: x-rays look awesome, nothing structurally wrong with the knee, no arthritis

The bad news: it’s unclear exactly what IS wrong. It could be ITBS or it could be a tear in the meniscus, which is what my primary care doctor thought it was.

Outcome: physical therapy, stretch 5x/week, ice after stretching or running, and come back if it gets worse or doesn’t get better.

I’m not super happy about this.  Granted, it hasn’t been excruciatingly painful since May, and I’m able to run.  However, I do feel limited by it and anxious.  If I go outside for a long run, will I be able to make it home?  In May, I went less than .5 miles outside before calling my husband to pick me up because it hurt so much I didn’t even want to try walking home, even though it was such a short distance.

The bright side is that I completed a 7.3 race pace / long run yesterday!  The downside is that I wanted it to make it 7.5 but I was worried about knee pain.  🙁  It was just at that point where I knew more running would trigger pain.  .2 miles didn’t seem worth the risk!

P.S. I’ll have some more book reviews coming soon, and an update on the June diet extravaganza.  Just teaser — I tried a juice fast and survived!

P.P.S. You’ll notice the sidebar (over there —> if you’re on the main page)  now contains some count downs to my next races.  I’ll be adding more races soon I hope!

 

being injured sucks!

/ Brienna / 1 Comment

It’s been a month now, and my knee still hurts.  🙁

At this point, I can run for about 30 minutes at an easy pace, and it’s ok, but anything more than that, and it gets really painful. I do have to ice it immediately after, or even walking will hurt. I’ve been taking ibuprofen and trying to keep it easy on the high impact exercises. I only ran 14 miles in May, compared to my monthly usual of 30-40 miles.

It’s probably ITBS based on my self diagnosis. I’ve done some IT band stretches (I should do them every day, but I’m averaging something like 2x week), and that hasn’t seemed to help much.  It is better than it was when it started a month ago, but it’s certainly not healed.

My doctor told me it was a “meniscus strain” and that I should take ibuprofen for 3 days (normally 7, but I had already been taking it). Oh, and come back and see someone in ortho if I have more symptoms of meniscus issues. Um… but I don’t have ANY symptoms of a meniscus issue, and LOTS and LOTS of symptoms of ITBS.  (See here:  http://saveyourself.ca/articles/diagnose-runners-knee.php)

Going to see a podiatrist on Tuesday. Great guy, he did my foot surgery in 2008 when I broke my talus bone and needed 3 screws. I think I need orthotics for running, but we’ll see what he says. He might have some ideas about the knee or can at least get me into see ortho quicker.

As much as I have to drag myself out of bed or out the door to go running, I really do enjoy it and I’m really sick of being prevented from running! The only good news is that I’ve been trying to make up for it by doing more yoga.  🙂