Thursday, June 4, 2009

To Hell and Back

See this face? This is the face of a very, happy girl who is going for a walk in the woods. Only 24 hours ago, this girl couldn't walk or sit on the toilet with out a whole lot of pain coming from her knee.
Yup, I've had a stressfull week. Since my drive to Blackfoot, the pain in my knee got much worse. It was waking me up at night, with sharp, intense, drill-like, mind-numbing kind of pain. I was really scared, in pain and devasted that my season was over. Yesterday, I found myself making appointments with my orthopedic surgeon and my physiotherapist.

Fortunately for me, I found a physiotherapist who was a great problem-solver and together we figured it out. He put my knee through the classic motions to quickly determine that my knee was solid. A crazy physical examination followed and he then determined my ridiculously tight hip flexors were the source of the whole problem. They were compressing the lumbar spine, pulling muscles in my mid back and somewhere in the whole connection, a nerve was being compressed that went directly to my knee. The combination of 3 days of running, sitting on a plane, 2 days off and a long car ride triggered my little episode. Some Active Release followed and boom - I can walk, run and move again. No more pain. He prescribed me one simple hip stretch and sent me out the door. Craziest. Thing. Ever. The body is an amazing thing! What a week.

So, this morning I took the body for a test-drive. A walk-run of 45 minutes on the Spray River Trail. I was having flashbacks of going there for gentle walks post-knee surgery only 3 years ago. Today, my little stroll felt pretty fantastic. I was walking and then I was running and I was waiting for the pain to come, but it never did. It was the sweetest walk-run ever.


15 comments:

ian said...

fantastic!
and you have a working camera too!

Hey, i'm in banff tomorrow - my son is playing in the 7-a-side rugby tournament. you wanna run?

my email is on the ultra series website....

cheers,
Ian

Doug Lawson said...

I am so happy for you! What a great end to your knee pain story.

Dave - Atlanta Trails said...

Glad to hear that you are feeling better!

Chris Barber, SeriousRunning.com said...

That's great to hear about your knee feeling better! I recently went through the same thing and finally when to the orthopedist. When the doctor said there wasn't any major damage I began to run again. I still have pain but at least I'm back out there being able to do what I love! Just gotta stretch more and build the strength back up some my knee can catch up to the rest of my body.

Anonymous said...

Les!
I am SO glad to hear that you've got the knee back in working order!
Banff-Jasper would have been fun, but with this weather...um....maybe not so much.
Next year!
Congrats to Keith on his first Ultra! Nice work!
JO

Norma Bastidas said...

Leslie,

I woke up on a cold sweat about your story. I hope that never happens to me, i am glad you are back running after all that's what you where born to do!

NB

HappyTrails said...

As an occasional tight hip sufferer myself, I would be interested to know what the stretch is Leslie??

S

JeffO said...

So glad. I was thinking, misery doesn't love company THAT bad!
Stretch it and mush it.

Danni said...

I'd be deliriously happy too if I were so darling and photogenic.

Seriously, I'm hugely relieved.

Backofpack said...

Post a picture of the stretch, okay? I like to have a variety of them in my arsenal. Glad you are better!

Journey to a Centum said...

Whew! Fantastic news!

Leslie said...

Thanks everyone, I still can't believe what a crazy, painfull, ordeal that was.

Naturally, this time of year is the time I am MOST excited about a summer full of running in the woods, discovering new trails and places. So the idea of NOT doing that, was a major bummer!

I am going out today to give my body a REAL test drive, and try running for a few hours. Wish me luck!

**NOTE: There is fresh snow on the ground this morning.**

elizabeth said...

So glad you had a pain free run! What a great feeling! I get tight hips too and would have knee problems from it. I have a yoga tape I do a few times a week or when I'm feeling especially tight. Stretching out the hips is so important and works so well. Pigeon pose is my favorite stretch for this. Stay loose!

CoyoteGirl said...

The bod is a wierd thing!

Glad that the knee is not a problem afterall...rejoice and hit the trails!!!

Leslie said...

I'm baaaaaaack!!