Well, unfortunately I don't have much to report as far as training goes. I had restarted with the 21 day fix videos on Monday, but by the end of the day my shin was very sore again. I did the Total Body Cardio Fix and followed the modifier, so absolutely no jumping around. I enjoyed it greatly, but the pain that accompanied it, not worth it to keep going. That evening I was feeling very frustrated and extremely nervous about whether or not I was truly looking at shin splints or if it is a stress fracture. I messaged Brecka and she hooked me up with a number to an actual sports doctor.
Tuesday morning I had snagged up the only appt available before Christmas, scheduled for Thursday afternoon, and decided to lay low until then. It was a good choice. I was pretty sore the days leading up to it.
Thursday's appt didn't go how I thought. My shin was very sore that day. I expected terrible news, but tried to remain optimistic. Xrays were done and then lots of questions and an exam of my leg.
The poor doctor had no idea what he was getting into, that poor man. He started by looking at my left leg. I honestly for a minute thought... um wrong leg. And then asked him if he knew it wasn't that leg that hurt. He responded with an "I know, I gotta look at the healthy one first" to which I responded with "oh gee, that makes sense. I was about to ask to see your credentials!" Hahaha, poor guy, he glanced up quickly to see my wide grin! The intern he had in there kinda laughed too!
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| These shorts tho! My "parting" gift they said. |
The exam continues on and he starts pushing on the shin bones and surrounding muscle asking me if anything hurt. He was pushing hard! My response... "No. No. No. Well, if you push hard enough, sure it hurts!!"
Where is my filter?!!!
Anyway, so we carry on and go through all the walk on your heels, walk on your toes, does any of that hurt? Now hop on your left leg. K, now hop on your right leg.
SCREEEEECH!!! Wait, what!!
I stood on my right foot and mustered up what I could before giving it a go, knowing it was gonna be bad. I barely got off the ground. One "hop". I couldn't do it. I wanted to cry. I knew that was a bad thing.
So here we sat discussing the differences between shin splints and stress fractures and how not being able to hop just "muddied" up my diagnosis. My spirits fell. My xrays were perfect he said, and he was about to call severe shin splints, until I couldn't hop.
Plan of action. Treat it like a stress fracture and take 6 more weeks off of running, or get an MRI and know for certain what we're dealing with and exactly how to treat it. So. I'm scheduled for an MRI at 6:00 this evening.
The frustrating thing about the appt is literally one day later. I could hop. I'm still sore. I've gone back and forth over whether to call and leave a message and see if he'll clear me for running, or just see this thing through, and know for absolute certainty. I think I'm choosing know for certain. Better safe than sorry.
I'm hoping like crazy I get the phone call before Christmas eve saying I'm good to go. It may be wishful thinking, but if I hope and pray hard enough, it can be my Christmas miracle!
How do you handle it when you get grounding injuries? What gets you through the dark days of not being able to be active the way you were, pre-injury?
Sarah I know how hard this is for you and how much you want to run, however, take it from someone who tried to push through shin splints and ended up being injured for an entire year! 6 months of PT on one leg, and then 6 months on the other. I have since learned my lesson and as soon as I feel them coming on, I drag myself to the gym and do my training on the elliptical until they're completely healed.
ReplyDeleteYou will be back running soon, I just know it, but being able to run for many more years to come is more important.
Hang in there girl!