Fitness Friday...Injury Update!

TGIF! It was only a four day work week but it seemed to drag for me! It's been crazy busy in the afternoons around here this week with my chiropractic appointments, Sawyer's gymnastics, and my hubby working late. I also had a teacher workshop to attend last night. And only one more week of school and then we are out an entire week for Thanksgiving! I've been rushing around trying to get everything ready for the Thanksgiving Feast at school! Busy but fun!

On Wednesday morning when I arrived at school my director pulled me aside and said she was going to come observe me teach that morning. Boy did my nervousness set in! I feel like it went well...my kids were well behaved and the lesson seemed to go well. But I haven't sat down with her yet for the evaluation. Hopefully it's good! That will mean that my 90 days probation for this job are up and I will get a key! No more having to wait on other teachers to let me and my class into the building! ;-)

Knee and hip update: it seems to be getting better. Last Saturday we walked around Fort Gaines all day and the knee didn't hurt a bit. But then on Sunday when I spectated at the Pensacola Marathon and went for a walk for breakfast the knee hurt during the walk. So weird because I hadn't run since Thursday! I told Dr. Justin about that and he sort of scared me a little bit. He said if it didn't start getting better soon then he was going to refer me to PT, acupuncture, and maybe an MRI as the last resort. That was on Tuesday. He wanted me to run before I went to see him again on Thursday. I ran 3 miles Wednesday afternoon and felt no pain! Around 2-2.5 miles I started feeling tightness in the outside part of the knee (where I was feeling the bruising). After the run, the rest of that afternoon and night the outside part of the knee felt slightly bruised. And my hip was sore. I went to see him again on Thursday. He had told me to bring my running shoes with me. He had me run up and down the sidewalk a few times to see if there was any pain and to check my gait. I had no pain and he said my gait looked great! Then he had me walk up and down a flight of stairs and pin point where the pain was. I felt it a little in the knee going down. So we headed back into the office and he did treatment. He did ART, Fascial Distortion Model, and even a CrossFit thing called voodoo floss where he wrapped a voodoo floss band around my knee really tightly and then moved the knee. He also did a new thing called Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields Therapy (see the picture below). It felt really strange because I could feel little pulses in my knee and lower leg. But hopefully it will help!

I'm trying to remember that God is in control. He has a plan for my life and for some reason running is not in my plan at this moment in time. This injury is. It's really hard but I'm trying to trust in Him.

On the other hand...I get to sport around some pretty awesome Rock Tape on my knee! ;-)

The St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon is in 3 weeks! I haven't done a long run since the Gulf Coast Half on October 20th. I won't be prepared for St. Jude if I even get to run it. I'm hoping I can at least run/walk it. I looked on their website and the minimum pace for the half marathon is a 20 minute per mile pace. I could definitely walk the entire thing and be able to finish. But I'm hoping I can run a lot of it...with no pain.

It's time for Fitness Friday! Even though I can't run like I want to I'm trying to keep up with my planks each day. Little things count.

• Saturday- #plankaday 1:10, walked around Fort Gaines all afternoon (hey it counts!!!) 

• Sunday- walked 2 miles at the Pensacola Marathon while spectating

• Monday- #plankaday 1:06

• Tuesday- #plankaday 1:06

• Wednesday- #plankaday 1:01, ran 3 miles in 31:24 average pace 10:28

• Thursday- #plankaday 1:05

• Friday- #plankaday 1:00

So that's my week in Fitness and Injury! Hopefully the injury part will be extinct soon!

QOTD: What was your best run or workout this week?

Hip and Knee Update!

As you know I have been experiencing some hip pain for the past month. I took a week off from running, started running for about a week and the hip flared up again and I had to take more time off. Then I ran my half marathon (took it slow and easy) and the hip was tight but didn't feel any worse...but then my knee started hurting after the race. So I was super frustrated!

I finally decided it was time to see my favorite sports chiropractor Dr. Justin. He helped me tremendously when I had a knee injury last year before the Disney Marathon. So I knew he could help with this recurring hip pain and the knee pain. So I made the appointment with him last week and saw him yesterday.

I was a little nervous going into the appointment because you never know what the diagnosis may be. I didn't think I had anything seriously wrong. I truly felt that it was an overuse injury due to increasing my training. I felt like my hip was misaligned. And I knew that my quad and IT Band were super super tight. But I also knew that my methods weren't working all the way.

I've been icing. I've been stretching. I've been rolling. And it helped a little...but not all the way. I needed help.

The first thing Dr. Justin did was have me lay on my stomach. He did a test to see if my legs went together correctly. And they did not! That told him right away that my hip was not aligned correctly. He said that was causing the hip pain which in turn caused the knee pain.

He also said my quad, IT Band, and hip flexor were super tight.

He used two treatments: Active Release Technique (ART) and Fascial Distortion Model (FDM). To me...it was just like a deep tissue massage of the sore muscles with some movement of my leg with it. Of course there is a better definition for both of the methods lol!

The good news....he told me to RUN! He wants to see how well I feel after I run. And I have to continue to roll, stretch, and ice. He thinks that it will only take 3-4 visits to have me pain free again! Yay!!!

So I know these pains are probably overuse. But I also asked him about my shoes. I've worn Asics for the past 3 years. I got some Saucony running shoes through my blog a few months ago. When it was time for new shoes a few months ago I decided to try the Saucony shoes instead of buying another pair of Asics. They were free....I wanted to make them work!!! Dr. Justin said the different brand of shoes most likely aided in the hip and knee pain too because the shoes changed my gait.

I already had an idea that maybe the Saucony shoes weren't working for me. So the week before my half marathon I went and bought another pair of Asics (although of course I didn't wear them for the half).

You may remember me posting these pictures on Instagram!

Even Cullen approved of the Asics!

Dr. Justin said to run in the Asics. And I go back and see him tomorrow for more treatment. I'm sooo glad this was nothing serious! And I'm so glad I have that peace of mind knowing it's going to get better. And...did I say that I can RUN??? This is one happy girl!!!!

So hopefully...today's run is awesome! :-)

QOTD: Do you see a chiropractor for injuries?

Knee Check!

So after all of your wonderful advice about my knee yesterday (can I just say I have the BEST readers ever!!!), I made an appointment to get it checked out. Several of my runner friends recommended the same doctor...a chiropractor that specializes in sports related injuries. So I called Eastern Shore Chiropractic and Sports Clinic to discuss my problem and make an appointment. The only appointment they had for yesterday was at 2:30 and I was subbing until 3:00. So that didn't work. They didn't have any more appointments until Monday at 2:15. I went ahead and booked the appointment but asked if they had any cancellations for yesterday or today to please call me. Well it must have been my lucky day because about 15 minutes later they called me back and said they were going to work me in at 4:00 that day!!! Awesome customer service for sure!!!

I pulled up to the office and immediately got super nervous. And when I get nervous I get weepy. So I prayed that I wouldn't cry in front of the doctor...because I normally do and I hate that! It's so embarrassing! And I prayed that I would get good news.

The office was super nice on the outside! And the inside was just as nice! I loved it from the moment I walked in! And the receptionist automatically knew who I was before I told her! That made me feel so welcome!

I only waited about two minutes in the waiting room before they called me back. They took me to a room and the nurse asked me a few questions about my injury and how it happened and my pain scale. Then the doctor came in...Dr. Justin Southall. He introduced himself as Dr. Justin! I thought that was pretty cool! He asked me more questions about the fall I had and looked at my knee. He decided he wanted to take a few x-rays. He took me into the x-ray room and administered the x-rays himself. Then I went back into the patient room and it took about 30 seconds and my x-rays appeared on the computer screen!!! I just LOVE technology!!!

He said my knees looked great and were identical. That was music to my ears!!! No fracture!!! But he did say that sometimes it takes fractures three weeks so show up...and it has only been 12 days since I fell in New Orleans. But he didn't seem to think that would be my case since the fall wasn't a huge trauma.

After looking at the x-rays he took me into another room and started moving and rotating my knee. You could hear the patella bone seeming to get stuck when he was bending my knee. He adjusted it somehow and it stopped doing that! He said my patella seemed to be a little out of alignment which could be causing some of the pain.

Then we went to a different room and he hooked me up to a machine called E-stim. Basically it sends electrical currents through electrodes to your muscles to make them contract. It felt like the muscles were pulling and pushing. He put a heat pad on top and I got to lay there and relax for about 15 minutes that way!

After the E-stim, I went back into another room and he taped my knee with KT Tape (he apologized for not having any pink tape!). He wants me to keep the tape on for a few days but it was already peeling off by the time I left. He said it was probably coming off because of lotion on my legs. But my awesome friends Paige and Andrea use KT Tape all the time so I may see if they will retape me...on non lotion legs!

Dr. Justin doesn't want me to run this weekend. He says he thinks I should be able to run in about a week. And my half marathon for next weekend is a GO!!!!

In the meantime, I have to go see him two times next week. He also offered to tape my knee for the race. I also have to take a 15 minute Epsom salt bath and then ice the knee for 15 minutes each day. And he wants me to apply Biofreeze two times each day. And of course.....stretch! Dr. Justin also said I could cross train on the bike or anything that doesn't hurt the knee.

So that's my road to recovery...and I am pretty pleased with the route! I am so thankful that this isn't a serious injury!!! Thank you so much for all your prayers...please keep them coming just in case! I won't really know how well the knee is until I run on it again.

So for now I am going to be using a lot of this:

And doing a lot of this:

And let's not forget the Biofreeze!

 

I want to say a special thank you to Dr. Justin for making me feel so welcome! I really liked his office and staff and feel like I am in good hands! Dr. Justin understood my situation as a runner and that made it much easier! Here's to hoping my knee recovers quickly!

QOTD: Have you ever seen a Chiropractor for an injury?

Injuries are a Pain!!!

Literally! Remember when I told you about my knee starting to hurt on my 18 mile run a week and a half ago? Well, I rested all the next week so I could run my 10 mile long run the next (last) weekend. My knee felt better about two days after my 18 miler but I still didn't try to run. I had 10 miles scheduled for Sunday morning and didn't even think about my knee hurting...until I started running. I didn't even make it a quarter of a mile and I could start to feel it. But being a runner (we just don't stop do we) I kept running and made it my full 10 miles. No it wasn't horrible pain...just felt like my knee was bruised. And the run was awesome (other than the knee)! After the run I stretched, rolled, and iced my knee. I took Aleve for inflammation. And it was killing me. Still felt really, really bruised.

The next day...same thing. It didn't feel any better. And the tears started flowing. Because I am realizing that I may be injured. And I'm frustrated. I only have 2 more really long runs (20 and 22 miles) left in my marathon training. The marathon is January 13th. And I was just starting to get my groove back and feel really awesome during my runs. And my hip that has been hurting since the beginning of October is feeling much better. And now this...another pain arises. WHY??? WHY now when I am so close to marathon taper time?

It's weird because the knee feels bruised and when you look at it there is a red area that has some heat to it and is where the bruised feeling is. My husband looked at it and said, "It's bruised." I took a few pictures but I'm not sure if you will be able to see the redness very well.

After a couple of days the red area goes away. And it starts to feel better. But as I found out on Sunday...it will hurt again when I run. So far I haven't run any this week...because the knee feels a little better but is still hurting. This weekend I am supposed to run 20 miles.

I know in my heart that I need to rest this weekend and NOT run the 20 miler. And that kills me. I REALLY want to run!!! But I also don't want to injure the knee worse and not be able to run the marathon at all. I'm hoping the rest will heal it. And I'm really praying that I will still be able to run my marathon on January 13th. Please pray for me too! I would greatly appreciate it!

And you know I have to share a picture of myself after my 10 mile run Sunday (because I am a dork who likes to take self portraits apparently)! It was super chilly on my run so I was all bundled up!

 

 

QOTD: Have you ever had knee pain like this? Do you think I'm making the right decision to rest? Do you think I should go to the doctor for my knee?