It would be more accurate to say "injury update", but the effort I'm putting into overcoming this injury certainly feels like training! The week of rest and anti-inflammatories having done very little other than to leave me feeling unfit, I went to see a physiotherapist, who came up with a totally different diagnosis! Apparently the problem is "iliotibial band friction syndrome". Despite sounding very grand, this is actually an extremely common runners' problem. The pain is due to a long tendon (stretching from the hip to below the knee) rubbing on the end of the thigh bone in the knee area. In my case, this seems to be due to a muscle imbalance in my hip, maybe due to some leg injury I can't even remember. Compensating for the imbalance, I use the wrong muscles to bring my leg forward when I run, and so the tendon scrapes on the bone rather than making a smooth passage past it!
So much for the anatomical explanation; what about the cure? Exercises! And more exercises, followed by some exercises for good measure. Four times a day you will find me in front of the mirror concentrating intently on keeping my pelvis straight as I lunge, bend, and generally contort myself in the interests of waking up those lazy muscles! And they're certainly letting me know about it. I should have impressive quads after this, if nothing else! If I have any time to spare between the muscle-strengthening exercises, I can also cycle (or use the exercise bike as is more likely in this weather), so my cardio-vascular system doesn't need to go into hibernation.
It has to be said that this is entirely not the form I expected my training to be taking at this stage. However, despite the lack of actual running, I know I'm building up all the important aspects of my fitness, and so I'm staying optimistic. After all, if I don't believe I can achieve my aims, who will?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment