Tag: rehab

Knee Consult

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

Today I finally had my specialist consult for my knee, which I was ridiculously excited for. I’ve been waiting for at least some answers, and while I didn’t get as much information as I hoped, just having some sort of plan in place right now is helping keep me grounded.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was scheduled to consult with a sports medicine doctor at an orthopedics office. The appointment began with taking x-rays, which I didn’t fully understand because I had an MRI done already, but I guess they show different enough information. After that, I went to a room to await the official start of the appointment.

Their office works with a physician assistant coming in first and getting a history, asking questions, and doing a physical exam. I was fine with that since I was going to be seeing the doctor after that. However, this PA was so fixated on my X-rays showing the beginnings of arthritis developing that that was all he was focused on while he was talking to me. He made it sound like that was what he thought the cause of everything was, even though I specifically was able to point to it developing after a run, and specifically worsening when my knee snapped at my Thanksgiving 5k. There was no way I was about to walk out of that office with anyone trying to tell me arthritis was the cause of my problems. It’s nothing new to me when someone in healthcare sees my body still being overweight, sees something like that in an X-ray, and just can’t see past it. He also kept trying to tell me it would be better for me if I didn’t run and switched to biking or swimming.

Thankfully, the doctor listened to me a lot better and I felt like he actually heard my concerns. He also asked some questions and did an exam. He then pulled my MRI and X-rays up and showed me exactly what the findings in them looked like on the images and talked about why he wasn’t 100% sure that my meniscus tear was the cause of my pain and deficits. The place where my meniscus is torn is the medial side, yet I’ve had a lot more posterior and lateral pain. He did say the posterior pain could be from the meniscus, but also said it may not be and that rushing to do surgery on it may not fix it. I told him that I was willing to try conservative treatments first, and whatever it takes as long as I can run again.

We settled on trying a couple of injections spaced apart by a month. He let me decide if I wanted one that would help the pain in the back of my knee first or the lateral pain first. I chose to treat the pain the back first because he said getting rid of the inflammation in the joint, whether from the tear or something else, would help clear up the Baker’s cyst since it’s a result of too much fluid production from inflammation. I was hoping he would drain it, but he said this would work better.

So, I had the steroid injection done on my knee joint itself, and it was surprisingly mostly painless. It was a little achy when he was actually entering the joint, but very mild— much more mild than the pain I’ve been living with daily. The doctor said it would take up to two days to see full benefit. He also said that if this didn’t address the pain, he would try an injection laterally to see if it’s my IT band causing pain in a different spot than before. I at least appreciate his honesty that he’s not sure exactly what it is, but he’s willing to try a few things. He did say that if the injections don’t work, then it would probably be wise to consult a surgeon.

I go back for a follow up in a month. In the meantime, he gave me about a dozen different exercises to work on at home. I am allowed to try some walking and biking as tolerated after taking it easy the next couple of days to let the injection take full effect. Right now I can’t do either without pain, so we’ll see what happens in the next several weeks. My only fear for the long-term is that these injections do help, but it just puts a band-aid on a bigger problem. The steroids will help the inflammation and therefore the pain, but what if just masking the symptoms causes me a false sense of well-being and I end up injuring myself more? I don’t like thinking about something like that, but I also know that I’m extremely unlucky when it comes to injuries. At this point, it would be naive of me NOT to think of it.

As always, I’ll share with you guys when I know more!

PR From Walking???

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

Good evening, guys! It’s been an eventful week. Sunday I absolutely crushed that 5k I signed up for, even though I couldn’t run. I really didn’t want to go and just walk it, and I was going to be there alone instead of with friends like usual, but I knew I’d regret not going more, so I laced up and headed out. My only goal was not to get caught by the sweepers, but it turns out I didn’t need to worry about that. I kept as quick a pace as I could walking and actually set a new PR! That’s how much my fitness has improved this year. I never thought I’d get a PR walking a 5k, but I did. I’m so pleased with it, but it makes me wonder how fast I would have been able to finish if I could have run it. Hopefully someday soon that will happen.

Thursday I started physical therapy. The PT I worked with also thinks it’s my IT band, but he didn’t really say anything about why it would hurt in the back like it is. I still think something else is also going on, but I’ll give it some time following his recommendations. I had to go to a new clinic because of insurance, and I just don’t know how I’m going to feel about their process. The initial consult didn’t even last a half hour. He felt my knee and did a couple quick tests, and didn’t really ask many questions. I tried to explain that the main issue is that it hurts in the back more than anything, especially when I bend it all the way, and that while it did hurt on the side when I stopped running, it hasn’t done that in weeks, but hurts in the back. I didn’t really feel heard, and the appointment was so quick. He gave me five things to do with three reps each, then told me I wouldn’t be coming back until a week and a half later. This is different to every initial consult I’ve ever done. I’ve always had at least a one hour appointment and been told to schedule another in a few days. I’ll see what they tell me when I go back, but it just feels very strange to me. I want to get this issue fixed, and it’s already been nearly two months. I don’t want to waste time. I want to get back to being able to run and squat and kneel without pain.

Autumn Tidings

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

Forgive me for not updating this in four months! I can hardly believe how fast the time is flowing by these days. It’s been six months since changing jobs, and I don’t regret a single thing.

In terms of running, it’s been going okay. My knee is still an issue, and now my hip on the same side has been having some muscle stiffness on the outside. I took a few weeks off and restarted Couch to 5K this weekend. I had only been getting out once a week to run and focusing on cross training with speed walking and biking. Even biking still makes my knee hurt if I go too long. Despite everything, I’m grateful for at least being able to do some things. That said, I do want to do something with this knee of mine. It’s still far too much of a problem. The last run I did before taking a breaks was 2 miles, and I had major problems— all of them on my right leg. My knee was achy and swollen, my hip was mildly sore and quite stiff, my hamstrings, glutes, and calf felt strained, and even my ankle was trying to act up again, and that hasn’t been an issue in many months. I have no idea what to do. I’ve been really upset and angry about it. I’m sure if I see my doctor, he’ll want me to do PT for it again, but my copay will be much cheaper in the near year for that, so I’d rather wait a bit. I’m already doing PT for my shoulder right now (rotator cuff tendinitis), and that’s taking enough of my money.

Issues aside, I did run a 5k last month! It was the Halloween-themed run that I did last year, and it was even more enjoyable this year! I dressed as a female version of Mario and got some amazing compliments on my costume, and I got singled out by one of the photographers as I was walking by him because he wanted me to pose for a photo, so that was fun. I ran this race with two of my friends, and it was great. I actually didn’t do too badly, but I would love to finish faster one day. Again, I’m just grateful to be able to do it at all.

I also recently took a little bit of a bike trip about 30 miles south of me and rode on a trail that went through four different parks. It was ten miles out and ten miles back, and I stopped and chained my bike every so often and just wandered around. I packed a mini breakfast to eat halfway through; at the end of the path was a dam with a two story overlook. It sounds a little more grand than it was, but it was still really beautiful. It was on the chilly side that morning, so I didn’t run into a lot of people, which is the way I like it. I spent three hours just exploring all along that trail. I definitely want to make time to do something like that again at a new place.

All in all, things are going well. I can only hope it stays this wonderful through the end of the year!

April News!

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

This post is going to start with some good news! I found a new job that I will be starting in the coming weeks! I’m so excited to make the transition to something new after nearly 8 years doing the same thing. I’m tired of management, I’m tired of the irregular hours, I’m tired of working nearly every weekend and holiday, as well as nights. I’m tired of people yelling at me for things beyond my control every day. It’s just time to move on and see what the next adventure is.

I’ll now be coordinating care for patients in a cardiology office, which sounds simple to say it that way, but hearing the way it was described at my interview makes it seem somewhat overwhelming. However, I’m up for the task of learning how to be great at this new path. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting that office to call me. I had put my application in two and a half weeks before they called to schedule my interview, so I pretty much assumed I wasn’t going to hear anything. I was happily surprised when they called me and asked if I was free the next day. I was really nervous, because I don’t do well at interviews. I never feel like I answer any questions very clearly, but this one went okay. Not excellent, but not badly. We got to talking and they offered me the job before I even left. They said if I was willing to work hard and learn the ropes, they would put the time in to training me. I had interviewed off and on for similar positions for the past year with other offices and hadn’t had any luck, so I’m truly blessed to have found this.

That’s the biggest thing that’s been going on this month. I did finally do my first run in two months this past Friday, and it went relatively well. I think I would have been better off running on the road, but a trail run just sounded so nice. The uneven ground has often been a problem for me, though. It got my ankle a little sore, which I think affected my knee some. I didn’t have too much pain, though, just mild. However, later on at work, I noticed when I was squatting that my kneecap felt like it was sliding more than it had been the last month. I’m continuing to strengthen my muscles, as that is my biggest limiting factor in things getting better. I just can’t seem to get my hips/glutes to engage with my physical therapy exercises, and at least two thirds of the things I do there are designed to target those areas. I asked my PT if he had any other tips to try, and he told me that “as crazy as it sounds, focus your brain power on just the muscles you are trying to get to move and it can make a difference.” I see where he’s coming from; being mindful of really noticing how your body is moving during an exercise should be helpful. I see my sports medicine doctor in a couple of days for a follow-up, but I don’t think he’s going to have anything to say other than just keep working on strength. The pain isn’t much of a problem except when I put too much weight through my right leg, and that’s something that would tend to improve with strength. I’ll still ask him if he has any thoughts on getting my muscles to work better, so we’ll see.

That’s all for today. I do want to give an update on my progress with Noom, but I haven’t been doing well at following the program the last two weeks. Once this last week of work is done and I get a good routine going having the same shift Monday through Friday, it will go better. It’s hard to plan when you never know what you’re doing until one or two days before the new week begins. I think once I get back on track, I’ll have more to say about it. I still have a loss of ten pounds, so I’m happy I didn’t gain anything the last two weeks.

So, until next time, take care!

PT, a 5K, and Life

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

It’s hard to believe the year is almost over already! In the month since I’ve updated you guys, I’ve finished physical therapy for the time being, unless my doctor decides I need to do some more. I don’t go back for my follow-up until January 5th, so for the next couple weeks, I will be working on my stretches and strengthening at home and seeing how it goes. If things get worse before my appointment, my PT said I could call and we could figure out what needs to be done. I’m not 100% convinced that I will be okay on my own yet because it’s hard to measure that when I haven’t been doing my usual running and biking. I’m still having some trouble with my knee. It had started to feel better, and then I had a work week that destroyed all of my progress and set me back. I still can’t function well at work unless I’m maxed out on ibuprofen. A physical job and an injury do not go well together. That’s why I have such slow healing times whenever I get injured.

Despite all that, I did do another 5K that was holiday themed two weeks ago. I was already signed up, so my PT knew I was going to try it anyway. I had originally planned to try running half of it, since my doctor told me I could run one to one and a half miles twice a week, but I didn’t even make it much more than a half mile. I felt so much like I failed when I had to walk almost that whole distance. Obviously I was being too hard on myself in that moment, but it was hard to not think that way. There’s nothing wrong with walking if you need to. I shouldn’t have beaten myself up about it while dealing with a known injury and not having been able to train properly. What helped pull me out of that thinking during the race was a group of 4 little kids just past the two mile mark standing in their yard and throwing leaves like confetti at all of us and cheering for us. They didn’t care how anyone was doing. They cheered for everyone going by them anyway.

After that race, I took two weeks off. My PT said I could ease back in to running by starting with a half mile run. That’s less than my doctor had said, but I. Think it’s for the best to take it slower after that abysmal performance I had at that race. When my PT asked me when my next race was, I told him New Year’s Eve at midnight. I don’t think he was expecting that because he just started laughing and called me “one of those crazy runners”. I told him I would be sure to take it easy and just run as much as my body felt comfortable with. I think I’ll be walking a little in the beginning to get my body warmed up some and then try to run about a mile and a half. I’m hoping in two weeks I can be close-ish to that. I did 10 minutes today, which was 0.2 miles more than the half mile I was supposed to do, but I was feeling okay and thought it would be good for me mentally to at least be able to do 10 minutes. It felt so hard after not being able to train much. It’s been at least a month since I ran over 30 minutes. Every other run has been 20 or less, and getting back to it after no running for weeks at a time was a challenge. I was very slow, but in a way that’s good because it will ease my knee back in, hopefully.

I probably won’t update this again until January after my next 5K and my appointment since life is pretty boring otherwise. I do have a week off starting December 21st, so I just have two more work days to make it through and then I can let my body and mind rest a little. It’s been so stressful the last couple of weeks. I’ve been stuck staying late every week on my morning days, which would be fine if it was once in a while, but not 3 weeks straight. And then yesterday, someone I work with massively took their anger out on me for a situation I couldn’t control and I had a breakdown. I was shaking and trying not cry while I was still at work, which was unsuccessful. At the point where it started, I only had one more hour to go, so I was able to hold most of it back until I got home. One day I just won’t go back. I can’t take many more days like that. I try not to take it personally, but I got yelled at and accused of “trying to get out of work” because a company we contract with had a weird situation occur and couldn’t deliver our product that day. It was out of their hands, and it was out of mine. There wasn’t anything either of us could have done about it. All we can do is wait for an alternate delivery date. To be yelled at about it was unfair.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great rest of the year, and a great start to 2022!

PT, Round 5

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

It’s been a whirlwind of a month, but I feel like things are looking up. I saw my primary care doctor for my knee, and he wasn’t sure what exactly was going on. He said it could be a few different things based on my exam. When I called to make the appointment my knee was feeling worse than the day I actually had the appointment, so it wasn’t giving me its usual problems. My doctor told me I always make things difficult (jokingly, of course), but I can’t help it my body didn’t read the instruction manuals. It always shows problems in weird ways. Since he wasn’t sure, he told me he wanted someone else to look at my knee. I appreciated his honesty about it. He told me he’d contact someone he knew in sports medicine and see if I could be seen.

The next business day I got a call from a sports medicine office to schedule an appointment, and they got me in within a week and a half. I really like the doctor I saw there. He was great at explaining everything to me, very friendly, and he took my goals into consideration to come up with a plan for me. It turns out I have runner’s knee. The plan was to start physical therapy for 4-6 weeks and cut back on my workouts. So now I can only run two days a week for half my usually time and bike one day. I asked if I could still do the 5Ks I was signed up for and he said it was fine if I took a few days off afterward.

I started physical therapy a few days ago and will be going three times a week. I get to see the PT I’ve always seen, so he knows my weird problems already. My femur is twisted internally, my tibia is twisted externally, and my foot points out on my affected leg. He’s trying to correct that as much as possible while we work to build strength in key areas. Yesterday’s session has my muscles sore, but that means it was an effective workout for me. I’m hoping things calm down soon and I can enjoy some more time running pain free in the new year!

Feeling Like Giving Up

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, running1 Comment

I had my followup appointment today for my hip tendinitis and I’ve been crying off and on all day. I’m so beyond frustrated with my orthopedic doctor. It was a huge waste of my time (and money). Both of my hips have been bothering me, but in different places. On the left side it’s my gluteus medius tendon and on the right it’s my hip flexors. My left side has been feeling better; it’s not perfect, but the pain is less most days. My right side has been unchanged. I figured my doctor might want to discuss how some of the things I’ve been trying at physical therapy have been helping, especially the temporary shoe lift on my right foot. I was curious to see what he’d have to say about it and if he thinks it might be a solution to getting all of my trouble areas to heal up and leave me be.

He had no interest in any of that. He seemed almost offended that I went to my PT for help while I waited for my follow-up appointment and questioned how badly I was actually hurting. He told me I can’t just go to PT forever. I wouldn’t call a couple of sessions after 6 weeks working on a home program “forever”. All the doctor told me was that I should get a home program from my PT and work hard at it and everything would go away, never mind the fact that I’ve been doing that exact thing. I do my PT exercises every day, and on days where I’m hurting really badly, I stretch extra. He also told me to join a gym, lose weight, and work on diet and my pain would go away. I had to remind him that I’ve already lost a lot of weight (nearly 70 pounds), and that the hip issues started when I became a runner. The left side has been bothering me for 13 months and the right side for about 5 months. I really wanted to know what my doctor thought about my leg length discrepancy, and I didn’t even get a chance to ask him because he made me cry right there in his office. I agree with my PT about my leg length discrepancy being the cause, but it’s not a simple thing to just fix. Left untreated, my body develops poor compensatory patterns, which is why I have so many other areas that are hurting, which lately has been my right knee. Even treating a leg length discrepancy can cause problems while the body adjusts to its new mechanics if it’s treated too aggressively too quickly. I don’t know why my doctor didn’t want to talk about any of that stuff. Maybe he didn’t even read the chart. He sure didn’t seem to remember I was a runner until I told him I had a 5k this weekend I needed to get through, and his only response to that was that he was glad to hear it because it would help with the weight loss. It was at that point I started to cry. His last piece of brilliant advice was to tell me to call up the office and make an appointment if it didn’t get any better. I don’t understand how much “not better” it needs to be for him to care, but I’m certainly not going back.

I really don’t understand what happened today. My doctor was great about getting my left hip feeling better. Why is it different because it’s the right side that’s still bothering me? In the meantime, there’s not a lot I can do. My PT has been wonderful at helping me look for solutions, so I’m grateful I at least have someone who is interested in helping me. Him not being a physician limits that help, but it’s still been a blessing. He recommended I make the shoe modification permanent and told me of a place that should be able to do that for me in the next city over. The only reservation I have is if it removes the support aspect of my motion control shoes, and my PT wasn’t sure, so I’ll have a few questions I want to ask. In the meantime, the temporary ones are helping for now. I don’t know how much that will cost to modify my shoes, but if it will give me a chance at a pain-free life, I’ll try it if the price is reasonable enough. In the meantime, I’ll be taking a couple of weeks off from running after my 5k. I’ll also be taking a few weeks off from PT to work on a home strengthening program while I’m not running and see where that gets me.

I try incredibly hard to be positive and optimistic, but I’m struggling with that right now. I’ve been doing pretty well with my running considering all these injuries, and now with my asthma and the cold air for the winter season. It’s hard to see success on paper in my training journal and still feel like I’m somehow failing. The numbers may look good, but the way my body feels tells a different story.

Roller Coaster Week

On By LeraIn SurgeryLeave a comment

This week has been a wild ride full of highs and lows. Yesterday was probably the worst day of my life so far. I lost my grandfather to cancer after he fought it for several years. He just celebrated his 85th birthday Monday. My family and I all went to visit him the Saturday before his birthday and brought him a cake–chocolate, his favorite. He was still able to eat at that point, so I’m glad he got to enjoy it. The changes that took place this week were so fast it was hard to believe. I visited him again on Tuesday and he wasn’t awake the whole time we were there. Then yesterday I went down to see him and it was obvious it was going to be one of the last times. He wasn’t very lucid, but he opened his eyes when I spoke to him. I mostly just sat next to him and held his hand, making sure to tell him how much I loved him. He couldn’t respond back, so I just talked about whatever came into my head so he knew he had some company. He passed away just a few hours after I left. I wish I had been able to be there so he didn’t have to go alone, but having to depend on a ride makes it hard to control your own schedule. His passing was something we were all anticipating for a while, but it still hurts deeply.

As far as my first week of physical therapy is concerned, all is going well. My range of motion is already improving noticeably. I can’t work on strength for a few weeks yet, but I can bear my full weight on my right foot now as long as it’s in the boot. I can’t put a lot of weight on it without it, so I’m still going from station to station at therapy with my crutches. The first time I could climb stairs without having to crawl up and down them or use a crutch was amazing. It’s nice to feel more normal now and be able to walk without the extra help of crutches. I can’t walk very fast, but I can walk! I’m trying to celebrate the little victories and take things as they come.

I love my physical therapy clinic. I live in a small town, so a lot of the businesses have that characteristic charm to them. I’ve even done a couple of sessions with my neighbor this week; I didn’t know he was still going there. Everyone at the clinic is so friendly, and you get to know the other patients there in addition to the staff. I was in stitches listening to the conversations this morning. I barely noticed how much the manual therapy was hurting because I spent a lot of that time laughing. It’s not exactly pleasant having my scars, fasciae, and muscles massaged. It’s definitely not relaxing like a spa massage is. When the therapist hits a knot or rubs the scar where the screws in my heel are, it’s very painful. I try to bear with it the best I can because it’s going to be beneficial one day, but the screw area is still incredibly tender. I’m hoping that by the time I start wearing normal shoes in 5 or 6 weeks, it won’t hurt so much to have pressure on it.

I’m so excited at the improvements I’ve made in my first week. I know I still have a long way to go, but seeing improvement this quickly is really motivating. I think I worry my therapist a little bit, though, because he’s told me twice this week to make sure I don’t overdo things and to take things slow so I don’t anger my tendon and ankle. He knows me too well, because I really do need to be reminded of that. I’ve always been someone who tends to go overboard, for better or for worse. I’m not good at seeing that fine line between enough and too much, so I’m even more grateful I’m able to work with someone who knows me and my case well.