Hip Rehab!
If you’ve read this blog recently, you’ve been hearing ALL ABOUT my current injury, a very sore hip flexor which has relegated me to the pool for aqua jogging for the last few weeks. What I may not have mentioned is that ever since I had my second baby, I’ve been plagued with one injury after another, and the problem is that “baby” is now twelve years old. I’ve been going to a sports chiropractor who was doing a good job of putting out each fire as it flared up, but I decided it was time to get to the root of the problem. I was referred to Athletix Rehab by another runner, and had my first appointment yesterday. I said I had found a new “doctor” but actually it’s a team of licensed physical therapists. The initial visit took almost ninety minutes, and involved a full strength and mobility assessment by my PT, and new best friend, Arvon. Arvon diagnosed me with FAI, which stands for femoroacetabular impingement, which basically means the hip isn’t moving smoothly in the socket (no need to go into too much technical jargon.) It could be due to any number of reasons, but in my case is most likely due to a strength imbalance in my hips. During the assessment it was clear that my left side is weaker than my right (although it’s the right hip that hurts.) When I did a squat, Arvon could see that I was shifting to the right. He asked me to do it again without shifting, and I couldn’t- out of habit I’m shifting to the right without being aware of it. No wonder that hip hurts! FAI could involve a small tear to the labrum, but Arvon didn’t believe there was a serious tear based on the level of mobility that I do have, and the absence of severe pain. An MRI would be needed to diagnose that but he didn’t feel it was necessary because the treatment protocol would be the same regardless- strengthening the muscles around the hips. We ran through a series of exercises, which he videotaped on my phone and narrated, e.g. “Keep your toes pointed forward, make sure your hips are back, do three sets of ten…” so I can do them everyday at home. The funny thing is, at the end you would have thought it was my left hip being rehabbed, because it was so tired and achy- although it’s my right hip with the FAI. I briefly considered just going home, googling FAI and then figuring out exercises to do on my own. But then I thought about how long I’ve already been working on my running, my strength training, and trying to figure it out- and my best efforts have brought me to this point. So I committed to at least six sessions of PT over the next few weeks. Overall I’m excited about this course of action. The only thing I didn’t like was when he said it would take about eight weeks to return to running normally. I didn’t ask what that meant exactly- eight weeks until I’m back to running my normal distance? Or back to running, period? Some questions are better left unanswered, for now. I’m just happy to be moving in the right direction.