Monday, January 19, 2009

Bob-o Goes to the Doctor

Well this morning I went to my General Practioner to have him take a look at my bum leg. Now this weekend there has been no pain, a little tightness, some swelling, but no pain. Hell leg felt so good that I went for a 8 miler and stretched, a little tightness but not any real worries. I risked life and limb on the road and got to my Doctor for my appointment. After a little waiting and some small talk Doc took a look at my ankle and did not like the bulge.
Doc: Bob, I think you tore it.

Me: What? But I can still flex my foot, stand on my toes, full range of motion.

Doc: Well that bump is one of two things: Option 1: you tore it and your tendon is curled up in there. Option 2 You strained it it's imflamed, either case you need a sports medicine guy. because all I can do is send you for an MRI to make sure it's not torn and then regardless I'd have to send you to one any way.

So Wednesday I'm going to an orthopedic/sprots medicine Doc to have him tell me what seems to be the obvious, that the ligament is strained and I need to rest it. If it's torn New Zealand has gone bye-bye, Racing in 2009 has gone bye- bye and prehaps racing ever again has gone bye bye. ( making for a really dull blog about pool workouts.) But all signs seem to be pointing at strain. So I'll go hopefully get some active release, or massage therapy, get miles in in the pool and on the bike and hopefully get this thing sorted out. In either case there is no pain in the ankle now and I can still get into the pool, so it's just swim, study and wait.

Healing and hoping
R.D.

4 comments:

Charisa said...

Hang in there! I could tell you some great stories about water jogging after I broke my foot - it was actually kind of fun :)

Angry Runner said...

http://www.achillestendon.com/default.asp

Eat your heart out. Read everything there.

If it was a tear you would know, as would I since the audible "snap" of the tendon followed by you screaming your head off in pain would be heard all the way up here. I pray you don't get that far. Your doctor clearly knows nothing about tendon tears...or anything orthopedic in general.

Here's what the ortho will tell you:

"you've got either tendonitis, tendonosis, or tenosynivitis (what i had...inflammation of the sheath rather than the tendon itself), and it's very fixable with rest, anti-inflammatories, PT, and some other useless shit that totally disregards the root cause of the underlying condition, but I'll send you for a $700 MRI anyways."

You were right for telling the doc of your movement, ROM, etc.

If you want to salvage IMNZ and not actually blow your tendon at mile 26.1, here's what you do:

-Aggressive icing 2-3x/day, preferably after exercise
- FISH OIL. Works better than NSAIDs
- FIX YOUR FUCKING HIPS
- Stretch everything from the hips down
- deep tissue massage on the musculature from the hips down
- cross friction massage on the tendon itself (hurts like a bitch, breaks scar tissue)
- FIX YOUR FUCKING HIPS
- Eccentric calf exercises...stand w ballz of feet on a stair or whatever in calf flexion, slowly lower for a count of 5-7ish, repeat
- FIX YOUR FUCKING HIPS

The fact that you were able to run is a very good sign. You're not at the point of overuse where you totally fuck yourself, but weaknesses up IN YOUR FUCKING HIPS fuck with the tendon in an on/off type of deal.

Start doing walking lunges with an emphasis on 1. getting a stretch in the hip flexors of the back leg and 2. pushing straight up through the heel on the front leg. HEEL. No toes. This should not inflame anything but reveal both tightness and weakness in the hips. Fix your hips and you fix your Achilles.

Bob Almighty said...

Charisa: Hopefully I'm not at that point yet. but I heard water running does build strength.

Angry: When the Doc went on the "I think you tore it" spiel, I told him about ROM, and how I could stand on my toes with little to no dscomfort, and essentially said tear my ass ( had I torn it would be in the ER screaming More Morphine at the top of my lungs.)
except in more polite terms. regardless e told me he really didn' know much about this athletic medicine crap sent me to some one who does.

I know it's my godamn IT band, as evidenced my the tightness in my hams and hips after driving to Newport last night. Today I figure I'll follow your stretching lunge routine to ease the tension on my tendon.I'll trigger point my hip to try to unlock any hidden knots, and try to find a massuse covered by my Blue cross..if I'm paying for these damn benefits then I'm taking them all the way to the bank.

Unknown said...

Hot phyisical therapist, put on your sexxy boots, because here comes Bobby! Bow chicka wow wow!