No fracture (I think)
So...
The last couple of days have not been fun. I continue to be really down about this injury. I appreciate the kind words people have offered, but I am still pretty pessimistic about the chance to run this year's marathon.
The pain has lessened over the last few days, but seems to have localized on my right side. About a third of the way up my leg, right in the front of the shin, there's a discrete area of tenderness. It's definitely better than Friday, but I still feel it when I walk.
Thinking that it would make me feel better, I got X-rays taken today. I'd like to show them to a dedicated bone radiologist, but according to the radiologist who saw them today, they don't appear to have any signs of fracture on them. As I'm sure many of you know, X-rays are not definitive for early stress fractures. However, a bone scan is a little bit more difficult to set up in my situation.
Either way, I don't think there is a major fracture. However, since I'm still feeling the pain, I definitely need to cut back on my running. As a result, I've cancelled this weekend's long run. (It kind of sucks, since there's actually an extra weekend day to run this week.)
Taking some advice from other runners who have commented here, I won't give up just yet. Maybe with a few more days rest, the pain will subside. If I'm feeling better in a couple of days, I'll try to start up the running again. I don't think I can go too long without running, and still have a reasonable chance of being ready for the marathon in 9 weeks. But if I can get back to the roads in the next week or so I should be ok.
Again, not to end off on a downer, I've gotten some pictures from last week's half marathon. Ah... the good old days. Pic1 Pic2 Pic3
posted by Danny on Sunday, September 04, 2005
3 Comments:
Danny.
Try to step back and look at the big picture here. You're in pain. From running. From a sports injury. And you admit yourself that this is endangering your chances of running the NY Marathon.
Your leg pictures are certainly very pretty, but if you want to find out the cause of your pain and stand a chance of completing the marathon, you MUST go see a sports doctor! You. Must. Go. See. A. Sports. Doctor!
I can't be any clearer about this, so this is the last time I'll bring it up, I promise.
Brooklyn,
I do recognize you're trying to help. Really.
Even though you make it look so obvious in your comment, I personally don't think that sports doctors can just fix everything. I'm pretty certain that I've tried to increase my running too quickly. (In fact, I feel pretty stupid when I look at my schedule and realize I went from 18 to 32.5 miles in 1 week!) I don't need a specialist to tell me that I shouldn't have done that.
Similar to PT, if I had all the time and money in the world, why wouldn't I go to a sports doctor? But since that's not the case, I'm not in such a rush to go. I know it won't be "just one visit". It will be an evaluation, then a bone scan, then some PT, then some orthotics, then some more appointments. I really don't have the time for all that. Or maybe I'm just not that committed.
Sorry.
Are you doing those toe-curling strengthening exercises? Those really seem to do the trick for shins - often caused by a calf muscle imbalance.
Oh - and for the record, my sports doc (also my family medicene doc, and she's the UT men's atheletics team doctor too) doesn't bother with any of that PT/Orthotic/extra stuff for the vast majority of her patients... at least according to her. I know she didn't when I was having issues.
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