Just got home from the doctor, Dr. Teresa Stadler, and the news is not too bad.
I have a very small tear in the middle hamstring muscle (semitendinosus -- shaded blue in the graphic to the left) -- it should heal fine. She's said NO stretching, period. No NSAID's (ibuprofen, Advil, etc.). Eccentric exercises to strengthen the right hamstring. There's already some minor atrophy after only 12 days -- I apparently have favored my right leg when I have run over those days. I go back for recheck, gait analysis, and massage therapy in 2 weeks. I can run up to the point of awareness, so will be limited to less than 5K and probably, at first, to 2-2.5 miles easy.
Cool thing: the gait analysis may show some weirdness in my gait that she suspects may be causing the problem. If so and if I will do the work to correct it, not only should I prevent hamstring trouble in the future but she said I may be able to knock 15 seconds off my mile time. I laughed and said maybe I could reach my goal of a <45:00 10K -- she said that was her goal this year.
The other problem I am having is tenderness just in front of and adjacent to my inside right ankle. The doctor said the ankle and hamstring are not related. She pretty well ruled out a stress fracture. First, with a stress fracture I should have definitely not been able to run and that's caused me no pain, at all, when running. Second, as long as I've been running, an ankle stress fracture would be unusual. Most conclusively, rubbing across the tendon caused more discomfort than rubbing along the bone. I have a topical anti-inflammatory for the tendon and have to march on my heels with my toes pointed up while I brush my teeth -- in other words, 2-3 times per day for 1-2 minutes each time. If it doesn't clear up, she'll image it to be absolutely certain it's not a stress fracture.
So, maybe a short, easy run in the morning is possible after all.
Run well and pain-free, y'all,
Bob
6 comments:
That is a blessing to have a Doc that's a runner! Sounds like you will heqal up fine.
sounds like you've got a great doc. Awesome!
That is good news.
She does seem to be good. She runs a sports medicine clinic here and she is a triathlete and marathoner. I asked her if she had done the Hawaii Ironman and she has. I'm impressed.
YES
SHORT EASY RUNS ARE AWESOME!!!
Okay, I really really want some gait analysis now. If some gait correction can knock off some mile time and avoid injury, I'm all for it!
Here's hoping for a quick return to good running, Bob, and isn't God good to provide us with good doctors when we need 'em? His provision is never-ending!
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