Nothing makes you miss running more
than getting injured.
RiF, page 10
After you’ve been running for awhile, you discover a very simple truth: the problem is never where you think it is.
Exhibit A. About a year ago, I was sidelined for several months by persistent achilles pain in both feet, which I had flawlessly self-diagnosed as achilles tendonitis. I was about ready to hang up my running shoes and take up biking (!) when I broke down and went to see a really good PT. She put me through the paces and soon diagnosed the problem: it was not in my achilles, but in my calves. The solution? A few more sessions, a couple of calf compression sleeves and, most importantly, The Stick.
That’s all it took. A couple of polyester sleeves and a plastic stick threaded through a bunch of caroms.
Damn.
Exhibit B. This spring, I’ve been bothered by a bit of knee pain. It’s the right knee, so I have flawlessly self-diagnosed it as the result of running on Vermont’s steeply bermed dirt roads (running on the left side of the road, so the ground is always higher on your right). I could run on a track and test this theory, but that would be too easy.
Then, as if playing its part in a Greek drama, the new issue of Runner’s World arrived and the health column is all about runner’s knee. And there are some simple exercises to help strengthen the necessary ligaments, which I have begun. But the best was a recommended use of a high-density foam roller, where you basically lie on it and roll up and down your thighs. Damn if it didn’t help. A lot.
Meanwhile, I’ve also been having a bit of lower back pain after runs this spring (okay, basically, I’m a 200 lb. sack of aches and pains), and nothing seems to help. Changed up the shoes, no change. Run on track, same thing. Even toying with changing my playlist.
If things get worse, I might just have to break down and visit my PT again. But more like I’ll do a bit of online research and come up with another flawless self-diagnosis.
Which just goes to show that a major source of my running problems is not in my feet, knees or back, but in my head.
