These past few weeks have left me road weary and tired of planes, hotels, and bus rides. Too bad as I write this entry I have just finished checking out of a hotel, am currently sitting in an airport, and waiting for the eastern sierra transit to take me back to Mammoth. Out of the last two weeks I have spent more than 10 of those days on the road. The first trip was to L.A. to see Dr. Vincent, A chiropractic, ART specialist. After 5 months of being frustrated and having my training continually disrupted I had had enough, and decided to take my problems to L.A. Within one hour of my assessment with Dr. Vincent he had diagnosed my injury, something that no other doctor, chiropractor, or athletic trainer had been able to do. The injury? Nothing more than some tendonitis of my iliacus. Chronic inflammation of improper running mechanics is all that stands between myself and being truly pain free. I am already on the right track, now that I know the injury I can do the proper exercises and stretches. This was not only physically very important, but also mentally relieving.
My second trip was to Houston for Thanksgiving. What an amazing trip. There was plenty of great food, great people, and of course, the whole reason that I would go to Houston, Rachel. I loved every minute of my trip, except for the minute of saying goodbyes as everyone went their separate ways. Seeing Rachel for the first time in nearly 6 weeks was the greatest treat I could have wished for.
Now as my trip from Houston back to mammoth winds down, I am left to ask myself one question, how can life get any better than this? well, minus riding a bus for the next 4 hours, for me, it will, shortly. I will be seeing my family for Christmas, attending my niece Hazel's birthday party, and spending most of that time with Rachel. My bus is drawing near now so I suppose that is it for now. I will post again in the next few weeks.
I think I have an iliacus issue as well, I've been to several doctors, chiropractors and physical therapists with no luck. Any chance you could share what worked for you? I've been injured since February. Hope training is going good.
ReplyDeleteZack,
ReplyDeleteIf you have been feeling pain in your hip flexor/iliopsoas area then you may have something similar to my injury. I would get a good anti-inflammatory, which can be in rub on or pill form, or better yet both. I use traumeel as my ointment. You can find it online, it is great stuff. The main issue with tendonitis, which if you have been inured since february, it probably is tendonitis, is rest. You have to give it a good month to 6 weeks of full rest. Rest coupled with strengthening exercises and lots of stretches is the golden ticket. The stretch that has worked the best for me is the exaggerated lunge, with the injured hips knee on the ground. Now to add an extension to this stretch try leaning over the healthy knee to give the iliacus an extra stretch. Also make sure that your hamstring and piriformis are well stretched out. Epsom salt baths and foam rolling have been a big help too. As far as the exercises go, try doing some wall sits to strengthen the muscles around your hip. This helps to take pressure off of your inner hip muscles, tendons, and ligaments. There are a few variations off wall sits that you can perform as well, try knees in feet out (about shoulder width apart, with your butt parallel to the ground), next feet in (touching each other) knees out, then feet in knees in. Remember to keep your knees at a 90 degree angle. You never want your knees out over your feet. give this a few weeks to help correct your running mechanics. Let me know how it goes! Good luck!
Start with 1-2 sets of each wall sit. Each wall sit lasts 1 minute. Ice cup the area that hurts after the exercises and stretches. Also the shoes you are running in may not be doing you any favors. If you run in a neutral shoe (no support, just cushion) try a shoes with more structure. Nike makes a shoe called the structure triax, great shoe.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice, that was a lot more than I expected. I haven't ran at all since September, so another 6 weeks is easy, had pretty much given up on running again, hopefully this works. Do you think squats and jump rope are good for strengthening? They don't cause pain so I don't think it's hurting anything.
ReplyDeleteIf it doesn't hurt than you are probably ok. Just don't overdue it on the squats. Walking will help too. It will help your muscles get realigned, and used to their natural motion.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to thank you for your help. I started running again two weeks ago, I was able to run about 10 miles at 6:40 pace in my 3rd run, so I'm optimistic about what can happen this spring and summer. Best of luck to you this season.
ReplyDelete