Sore But Not Sorry
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday March 24, 2005
During my university studies I did a lot of running, and after finishing and being a bit competitive, I decided to join a middle-distance running club. I had to increase my volume and intensity and I soon developed shin-splints - a terrible tightness and ache running up and down the inside of my shins. I had to lay off the running and increase my stretching and eventually it went away. Soon after, repetitive running efforts up a hill did the same to both my achilles tendons, once again forcing me to reduce my training for a while.
While running around an athletics track about 18 months later, I developed a groin pain every time I lifted my right leg to run fast. It was annoying and limiting. After a trip to my favourite physiotherapist I found out that I had inflammation of muscles (the psoas muscles) that join the top of the thigh from the base of the spine that are involved in thigh flexion. I stopped running in circles and eventually it went away.I decided that non-weight bearing exercise was the safest way to go, so I started riding a bike and swimming. Riding along one day I hit something on the road and I went over the handlebars, mainly landing on my shoulder and sustaining an injury to the acromioclavicular joint. For months I could not raise my left arm above waist height. I could not dress easily or lift my bike on to the roof of my car. I could not swim and it hurt to run. But, believe it or not, cycling was fine.I decided to try a triathlon, and so I increased my training. Very soon it felt as if I had a small flat stone in my left shoe just in front of my heel, but there was nothing there. Getting out of bed in the morning was very difficult as my whole sole felt like a painful board and I had to hop around until it eased off. It was another overuse injury due to running - plantar fasciitis. I stopped all unnecessary weight bearing and it took four months to go away. Some years later it also happened in the other foot.I have been knocked off my bike several times in the intervening years, luckily only losing skin and having to put up with grazes. But this was minor compared to the time my knee became very painful and swollen. It took my orthopedic surgeon less than 60 seconds to tell me that I had torn a piece of my cartilage and that I needed an arthroscopy to repair it. I had never been to hospital before. Shortly afterwards I was staggering out after surgery with a heavily bandaged knee and no hope of any exercise for a while. Seven years later the same thing happened to the other knee. This time it only took the same surgeon 40 seconds to give me the diagnosis - a considerable improvement in his diagnostic expertise I thought.Last year was my worst year. I developed left groin pain that would not go away. Multiple general practitioner, physiotherapist and osteopath visits failed to shed any light on the problem. I could not run and it was sometimes painful to walk. Armed with the results of all sorts of tests, I was referred to some kind of very special orthopedic surgeon, who took a while to diagnose a stress fracture of my acetabulum - the bottom part of the pelvis. It's funny but people keep telling me that exercise is good for you.In this column, you are invited to tell us your story. Send 650 words with your contact details, including daytime phone number, to lchristopher@smh.com.au or fax 9282 2481. Submissions may be edited and published on the internet.
© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald