Tuesday, August 28, 2007

SoF- part deux

So some really odd and good things have come from this:

I have returned to yoga after close to 7 months off.
My running is so much stronger and happier because I know I can push myself now.
I have learnt that I can workout in a way that is good for me. By that I mean, workout just to work out. No other agenda. With the injuries, I was just glad that I got to even move so I couldn't workout to lose weight or build muscle etc. This is good to know because it means that I can trust myself not to push me to far.
Its been kind of fun to see how different the two sides of my body are. Especially during yoga, my left hip is so unsure where my right can do things effortlessly. I think its also going to be a good day when both hips can do the same things.
And lastly, it turns out I have a stronger core than I thought I did, my PT didn't need me to do the core exercises that most people in my situation would need to do. Yeah! that one month of ab-lab really helped, eh?

Summer of fun

Well there were injuries and lots of wondering what is wrong with me.

Injured my hip in may and realized that maybe my knee wasn't quite as 'rehabilitated' as I had thought. I tried to rest for two weeks but that didn't help it at all. Since running seemed to help, I went back to running and just took it slow. I did stop by a doctors office and he told me that it may have been a simple muscle inflammation and offered to give me a cortisone shot if the pain didn't go away (FYI, if the doctor's diagnosis invovles the term 'bursitis and a cortisone shot, the odds are he doesn't know/care what the actual problem is). Thank goodness I didn't believe him and went back to even slower than usual running.

A month back, my back siezed up. On the way to running one monday, I realized just how bad it was. I was having trouble sneezing and sitting. So I gave in and got a deep tissue massage. That was great but I knew that at 80 odd dollars, I can't use this as therapy. My decision was to take those 80 dollars back to yoga.
Best decision ever, not completely healed but my back felt better my hips did too. In the meantime, I went and saw another doctor about the pain in my hip. I felt so frustrated because I wasn't even able to describe exactly what was going on with me. My hip on my left hurt, my hamstring on the same side seized up when I ran as did my knee but not so bad I had to stop. And to add to it, my back was in bad shape. It turns out, by Tx law, they can see me for only one injury at a time so my hips, it would have to be.

The doctor comes in all rushed and I'm thinking that he is going to go too fast and get me out of there as fast as possible. But he took his time and after a ton of hip manipulations and very painful thumb presses he knew what was going on. So much so that he was able to predict where it hurt and why.

So the diagnosis is: Sacroiliac joint syndrome + weak abductors on the left + patellar tendonitis . My back is compensating for my hip and since I have back issues already, it's not happy.

Fun. Physical therapy began a week ago and I feel so much better already. My PT is also a chiropractor so he adjusted my hips. The pain in my back went from a loud roar to a small groan almost immediately. Wow!

Next post about the good things that have come from all this.