Sports Massage & Ankle Injury Update
Mar2220117 p.m.
The newly discovered ankle pain hit horrible intensity last Thursday / Friday. I was struggling to walk, which is not good.
On Friday I went for a sports massage and shared my woes about the injury. Emma, the sports masseur - (is that the right term ?) - appeared to be pretty knowledgable. She pointed out a difference in the shape of my torso, which I'd never noticed before. Down my left side of my body, it is straight up and down, whereas on my right side, it was more curvy. Emma showed that I had actually been working my left side more intensively than my right, so difference in muscle development. (Imbalance likely to have been caused by fracturing right side of pelvis last year). She then explained how injury was probably caused (all down to dodgy biomechanics). Unfortunately there isn't an easy cure to the problem. I have a severe leg misalignment which can't be undone with stretching / strengthening exercises, fancy shock absorbing shoes or insoles etc.
There are two long term solutions to avoid these sort of injuries re-occurring...
1) Chop off my legs and stitch them back on in a straight line - A strategy I'm not in favour of !!!!!
2) Permanently give up on long distance running - I think this is becoming inevitable.
Anyway, I've digressed. Back to the sports massage report... Emma did what she could and begun digging her thumbs into the muscles around the ankle / calves / base of the foot. It was excrutiating at times, but looking back now, I think the massage has helped with the recovery process.
Its now 5 days since my last run. I have been able to complete 2 sessions on a bike (both an hour long) in the last 2 days. The good news is the pain has reduced significantly. I still get occasional twinges, particularly when I go from sitting position to standing up.
At the moment I'm thinking of trying a very gentle treadmill run this Thursday or Friday. Clair, my wife, has offered to strap my ankle, to give it a bit of extra support. I know it's not a long term solution, but if it can enable me to keep training and do the marathon in April, I'm willing to give it a go.
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Comments (3)
emmteeyess 'What are we like - us runners? I know exactly what you're going thru! being sidelined is a bugga. Fingers crossed you can get to the finish line still Cheers, MTS' added 22nd Mar 2011
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jah41 'Hope you continue to recover and make it to that start line.' added 22nd Mar 2011
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HellenH 'Oh I soo know how you are feeling at the moment! I'm just off to borrow a friends exercise bike for the next week and have been pool running like a maniac last night. I was told the same thing as you about the legs ("we would need to break your hips and re-set them"-no chance!) And I am thinking that this will be my last marathon. it will not,however be my last run. There will be plenty more shorter runs that I will enjoy just as much! And you will too! Hope your ankle feels better soon :) Keeping everything crossed for you.' added 23rd Mar 2011
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