Something I’ve delt with as long as I figured out I could run more than 2 miles was injury. Some peeps are born with genes that enable the insurmountable to be marginalized. Others give up on dreams because they can’t ever see themselves overcoming a pain in their knee that’s nagged them for years. The spectrum of injury is far and wide… AND very personal! What I mean by that stems from my own personal navigation through PT’s, MD’s, & Chiropractors. I’ve found that when I injur myself, I can’t seem to find someone who knows where I’m coming from, where I’m at(depression, pain, suffering) & where I need to get to. Most times it seems that whomever I see, they simply tell me to stop doing what I’m doing, RICE and then 4-5 specific stretches.
MOST of us are normal and I consider myself to be normal! What I mean by normal, is that we get injured, we feel pain, things hurt. I have walked the fine line of injury since I began running longer distances. ITB, Plica Sydrome (had a knee scope in 05), Turf toe, Overtraining (YES… I consider overtraining to be an injury!), and now, as I write this, I’ve been diagnosed with extremely tight Psoas/Hip Flexors! I’m not sidelined, but I am in pain. Significant pain. I’ve had hip flexor issues for a while now, but according to the D.O. I went to on Wednesday, my psoas & hip flexors are so tight that they’re pulling my lower spine down and compressing it like an accordian. All of this equals pretty intense lower back pain which was why I went to see the D.O. in the first place.
Several adjustments, electrotherapy and some stretching lessons later, I’m on my way. Now I’m working towards lengthening my psoases which will hopefully alleviate a lot of my problems.
Dealing with injury does make see things from a different perspective though. I could go on and on about this, but really what it all boils down to is this… you’re reading this post because you, for some reason, enjoy the “net” result of the sport of triathlon. Some of us want fast times, some of us want to cross the finish line and some of us want the biggest distance. It doesn’t matter what it is, what matter is that you CAN participate in endurance sports. If you want to be able to stay healthy and injury free, you have to take care of yourself. That is unless you have the “genes” that I previously mentioned. Otherwise, the odds are against you.
Well… the bottom line is that I’m at least happy I’m dealing with this now versus in June. Additionally it’s not a serious injury and was caught early on. For all you peeps out there who don’t ever think about your psoas /hip flexors, be sure to take care of them. They’re VERY important to you whether you know it or not. As of Wednesday, my psoas and I are best friends! Cheers!