Three Good Things About Being Injured
Started off the day with an early morning pool run! It’s been nine days since I hurt my hip, and (as one does) I’ve been imagining all the worst-cast scenarios. Such as… 1) I have a stress fracture. 2) It’s a labral tear. 3) I’ll need surgery. 4) How am I going to do the laundry when I’m on crutches? Luckily, I was able to see my doctor today and he does NOT think I have to worry about any of those things. He described my hip as being “jammed up” and showed me how my low back and hip flexor on the right side are super tight. He adjusted my low back, and worked to soften up the iliopsoas (the hip flexor muscle.) He did some diagnostic tests to determine that my hip is still moving well in the socket (yay!) and doesn’t think it’s a bone injury. Hopefully the work he did, along with some Advil to reduce the inflammation, will get me back to running sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I present three upsides to this mess. 1. New running shoes will not wear out as quickly. 2. More time spent with cat. 3. Taking time off for hip to heal might finally, FINALLY give my foot a chance to heal as well. Because… This is the same doctor who treated my plantar fasciitis, and when I told him it was still there but I was running anyway, he suggested that perhaps I’ve been overcompensating for the foot in a way that jammed up my hip. Yep, already thought of that. I’ve basically been playing a game of “chicken” with my foot. It refuses to stop hurting, and I refuse to stop running. Standoffs like this rarely end well. Now that I’m forced to take a break anyway, I have the opportunity to finally heal my foot. The problem is, I’ve already taken time off. I’ve had shockwave treatments. I’m stretched and strengthened it. There’s an answer here somewhere- I just have to find it. In the meantime, my doctor said to be careful with cycling because of the amount of hip flexion involved. He said to stick with pool running for now, which works out perfectly because I LOVE pool running. Just kidding. I hate it. But it will build mental toughness… right? I know I’ve already asked, but has anyone heard of any unusual treatments for plantar fasciitis? – I feel like I’ve already tried the usual ones. Any other silver linings to being injured?