I'm actually writing this week's post from Houston! I've been on the road all day, so it's nice to be relaxing on a comfy bed so early in the evening!!! :) I'll start by giving a few updates from last week. I did not run, cross train, do core, etc. all the way from Friday, December 28th thru Saturday, January 4th. I went 8 full days of very minimal movement or stress on my groin/ hip, and then on Saturday I did twenty minutes of biking and some core work. From the day I first started resting up until Friday morning (7 days later), I honestly felt very little, if any, change in my pain levels. That Friday morning I DID feel some improvement though! Much, much less pain when I got out of bed, and I was able to stand on one leg while showering and getting dressed without cringing or having pain! I will say that it became more and more obvious that the pain was in my groin area as opposed to the hip flexor. The more I walked around on it during the day Friday, the more it began to ache; same story on Saturday. I woke up and walked to our bathroom with the pleasant feeling of no pain! By the time I finished doing some chores and getting groceries, the ache was back.I am still pleased though, because for those first seven days, I was concerned it would not improve at all. Knowing that it is at least calming down and healing some over the nights is super encouraging.
On Friday I also went through a string of doctor appointments. Normally I would not make so many appointments for one ailment, but I wasn't getting calls back so I kept trying other options; in the end all three worked out so I left the schedule as is! At 8:00 I saw an orthopaedic doctor in Dallas. He took x-rays and said that groin pain definitely indicates a hip problem, but he thinks it's all soft tissue. He scheduled and MRI and steroid shot for next week and stated he would set up a PT plan as well. Next up was a chiropractor in Midlothian. He walked Jake and I through the Functional Movement Screening (FMS) which went surprisingly better than I expected (though I still struggled on a few), gave me an adjustment, and did some dry needling in my groin. He pressed in a couple spots in my groin that are the most tender (it's more sore to press on than anything else) and told me it was two muscles that run from my pubic bone to my hip flexor, and I probably just strained them. I had a lot of confidence in his "diagnosis" because he was the first one to physically touch the spot that hurt. He also explained the lower back pain by pointing out that my forward tilted pelvis pinches some of those discs. My last appointment was a bone scan in Arlington. This was primarily to check for a hip, pelvic, or sacral stress fracture. I haven't gotten the radiologists results yet, but they did send me home with a copy of the films. There is a teeny spot in my left femur (I'm assuming the remnants of my last stress fracture) and what looks like a new spot in the right one. A good friend of ours pointed out that stress fracture in the femur usually appears in the middle, so until I hear something from a radiologist or doctor, I'm taking the image as simply a warning to find softer surfaces and listen to my body.
Here's what the Functional Movement Screening entails:
Here is a picture of the muscles that the chiropractor called out for me.
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Here is what a tilted pelvis does to your lower back!
Here is a picture of the bone scan (one full body image, one of just the femurs).
This week I plan to get back into the running routine, and hopefully not have to ease in much since I only rested for a week. I also plan on doing quite a bit of strength, core, mobility, and supplemental cardio.
Sunday, January 5th
3M on the treadmill, 30 minutes of full body strength. The plan was actually to do six miles today, but at 2.8 I started to feel a decent pain in my right quad/femur. Rather than pushing it, I decided to stop at 3. I'm going to try running again each day this week, but I will continue to stop as soon as it hurts. The hope is I will make it farther each day; but if it starts hurting earlier in the run each time, I'm assuming I've got a larger problem than one week off could knock out. I tried to follow the three miles with a bike, but ALL THREE of the hotel's bikes were broken. In the end I settled for weights and body weight strength, which was probably better anyways as that always leaves me shaking!
Monday, January 6th
AM: Standard warm up + core work in hotel room. My standard warm up is 30 arm crosses (swing your arms as wide as you can and then across your body), 30 arm circles (starting small, gradually getting bigger), 20 military squats (hands behind head and thighs getting parallel to floor), 50 jumping jacks, 10 forward lunges (per leg). Today's core consisted of 15 slow traditional crunches, 15 slow bent-leg knee raise, 10 oblique v-ups (per side), 2 x 60" plank, 2 x 30" glute bridge, 10 x 5" superman.
PM: 5M run + 20' bike. I was super pleased to make it to five miles without any femur pain today. In fact, even at five miles, the reason I stopped was actually for a sharp pain in my left ankle that started at around 4.7 miles. My tailbone (if that's what it is) and groin have hurt all day, walking and sitting, but they were absolutely no worse when running. In terms of energy level, etc, my legs felt extremely flat and weak, but I'm contributing that to my 4 hours of sleep last night, a long day in the office, and a week of no running. :) Finished out my 60' of cardio with a 20' bike ride!
Tuesday, January 7th
AM: Standard warm up + exercises for pelvic tilt. I started with my same warm up as yesterday - It's great for getting my heart rate up and using all muscle groups. After that I spent my time on exercises I found online which are supposed to help correct a forward (anterior) pelvic tilt. This consisted of hip flexor and quad stretches, 2 x 60" planks, 2 x 60" glute bridges. I also spent some time doing good stretches on my hamstrings and IT bands.
PM: 6M w/ fartlek of 1', 3' off for the last 3M + strength. I felt AWFUL today. Not awful on the run, just awful today. I think I am getting sick with something because I have a sore throat, headache, leaky nose, and feel feverish. Anyways, I got in the workout and am very thankful for that. I started at 8:4x pace and dropped it by one click every half mile.Once I got to the 3M point, I dropped it to 7:00 pace for my first hard segment, then slowed back to one click faster than my last easy pace. Each time I started a new surge, I went one click faster than the previous one (so my last surge was 6:30 pace) and each recovery I went one click faster than my previous one (so my last one was 7:30 pace). My hip was painful from the start today (hip flexor and groin area), but I am more concerned about stopping for possible bone problems than soft tissue. At 5.5M, my right quad/ femur started to hurt pretty bad, but I decided half a mile wasn't worth stopping. Hopefully some good sleep tonight and a good stretch in the morning will be all it needs! :) After the run I did 3x12 for leg weights and 3x8 for upper body "pull" weights. I will do the "push" exercises tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 8th
AM: Standard warm up + core series from Monday.
PM: Off - Travel back to Dallas after work... late night!
Thursday, January 9th
AM: MRI with lots of different fluid injections, including a numbing one and a steroid. Numb and super stiff/ full hip right now (noon).
PM. 6M naturally progressive OUTSIDE!! :) So, so happy to be outdoors again! I went to the chiropractor at 4:30 and had the most intense 'stim" work I've ever had done, as well as the most painful ART work I've ever had. No exaggerations about either! For the ART, he placed his thumb directly on the connection of those muscles where they hit the pubic bone -OUCH. Just pressing on that was pain at a 15 on a scale of 1 to 10!! He could have left it there, but he did the full ART process and oh-my-gosh-did-it-hurt! A couple adjustments, and some quality time on the vibrating platform and I was outta there. Scored 14 out of 21 on my FMS.. Lots of core work to do! As far as the run goes, I felt very awake and free running outside, so I thought I was moving pretty quick. I even threw in a mini fartlek on the last two miles; now that you know that you will understand how bummed I was when I finished and saw that I averaged 8:17 pace! Eek! My left outer hip and right quad were the two most painful things. The mizunos I ran in today are also too small, so I will switch to a different pair tomorrow. Can your feet grow when you are 25?
Friday, January 10th
AM: 6M progressive on the treadmill. I started at 8:3x pace and then bumped it down by 1 click every quarter mile. I was just under 6:30 pace for the last quarter mile of the run, so it worked perfectly. My average pace for the six miles was 7:18, which I certainly have no complaints about! Thigh/ quad hurt from the beginning, but I didn't know what else to do so I just ran. Ended up THROBBING all day afterwards, so I will need to cross train tomorrow for sure. Dreaded every time I had to walk on it! :(
Saturday, January 11th
Sick. Fever and bright red cheeks that are super hot. Flushed face, I guess you could say. Spent the entire middle and second half the day sleeping, and then slept all night long! Ick.
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