Let's Get, Physical (Therapy)
After this race (where I PR'd by the way!), I summoned up some common sense and (finally) made a doctors appointment considering after my marathon the same issues arose and I'd just ignored it.
Sometimes I'm not so bright.
Long story, longer, I met with a new ortho (my original ortho who did my right knee surgery just had a baby and the ortho I had for my stress fracture was booked solid) who after palpation on my leg, determined my (left) IT Band was causing all the commotion.
Insert, physical therapy.
My hips and glutes were/are weak, which causes a chain reaction down the leg from all the pavement pounding and result in the all the pain, all the time.
Maybe, just maybe I'll learn my lesson this time and actually strengthen those body parts that also contributed to my (right tibia) stress fracture.
Pray for me.
Thankfully, this ortho semi-insisted I see the physical therapist whose group specializes in endurance athletes. He had me at, "they are all marathoner/triathletes too". The fact they were not really conveniently located near my house or work was a minor detail. Had a chat with my boss who gave me his blessing to attend therapy as I needed to get better as long as none of my work fell by the wayside. It is not lost how fortunate I am to be able to do my job and recover. The days were long and many times my laptop was always by my side, but I'm so thankful for the flexibility.
It took a few weeks to get in, so I did what I could (sans pain) to keep my fitness level up and semi laid off my ITB.
Once there I knew this experience would change me, for the better, as a runner. My therapist (and the staff ) was warm, friendly, and has run some seriously impressive PR's. We worked on stretching, strength, and easing me back into running. After running without pain for a few weeks she did a gait analysis. I thought the running clinic a few years back was eye opening. Gait analysis blew my mind.
Turns out I overstride like a maniac, swing my arms in front of my body, and have a tibial anomaly (left tibia is slightly bowlegged) which affects the way my left foot lands. Basically, I have plenty to work on to be a more efficient runner. The tibia issue is structural/how I was born, so it really has not affect on my running, she just pointed it out.
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| Bruises for days |
I called my mom that evening to tell her and she said, "I wonder what I was eating when I was pregnant with you that caused that?!" Bless her heart.
In addition to strength, stretching and the like, my PT introduced astym to reduce scar tissue and increase mobility. Full disclosure, its parallel in the hurts-so-good pain of foam rolling, but on a more intense scale. Way more. And it bruises. But, after my range of motion really improved and the tightness in my glute dissipated considerably, if not completely. To me, that is a win.
I was really hoping I could swing by once a week after I was released for Asytm, but I have a funny feeling my insurance company will not go for it.
Here's a little video of my therapist Julie performing Asytm.
Its been a month or so since my release from PT/Doctor -- my home program consists of: hip/glute strengthening with PT exercises 3-4 times a week (1-2 times a week if training), foam rolling after every run, cadence = 181, and core work.
Ok, I added core work, but you can never go wrong with a little extra core work, I say.
