Clear Skies on the Horizon

I had my first physical therapy appointment today for my shin problems, and I'm ecstatic to say that I finally heard some clear explanations for the pain I've been experiencing and that there is definite hope for a full recovery within the next two months.  Before I go into all that, allow me to sidetrack for a bit first!

Firstly, my legs have been feeling better during the last several days and this time it seems to be sticking.  On Sunday afternoon, the weather was beautiful -- sunny and in the mid 50's.  I decided to go for a 30-minute casual walk along the Great Hill Trails on campus.  Breathing in the fresh air, experiencing the pleasant solitude in the woods, and having no leg pain was a combination that gave me great joy.  The soft ground provides some give for my shins.  I really feel like the trails will be my path to getting back to a routine that I so enjoy.

By the way, this Wednesday, April 6 is "National Start! Walking Day."  Check out the link for more details.  I think it's a great idea that the American Heart Association helps coordinate.  This Wednesday at Bridgewater State at 11:45am and 4:30pm, there will be planned walks for students, faculty, and staff on the Great Hill Trails starting behind the Tinsley Center.  I'm hoping to do the 4:30pm walk, time permitting.  Regardless, I love the timing of this event with what's going on for me personally.  Synchronicity in its prime beauty, I say.

During my physical therapy today, the therapist asked me a lot of great questions, and he thoroughly examined everything with my feet and legs.  For the first time, I felt like an expert was genuinely interested in my well-being, getting me on track, and really knew what he was talking about.  I learned I'm flat-footed but only on my left foot.  Many of the muscles in my legs, ankles, and feet need some flexibility training.  The joints in my ankles and feet were stiff, too.  All of these issues have been contributing to my problem.

So the next steps are five sessions of physical therapy over the next three weeks to stretch and strength muscles for my ankles, calves, hamstrings, and glutes.  I'll be getting some shoe insoles for the arches of my feet.  The therapist showed me exercises I can do at home, too.  They're also planning on doing an ultrasound of my shins -- not as a diagnosis tool, but as a way to "microwave" my shins to break up any bad stuff in there.  Literally, microwave was the term used.  Kinda crazy, huh?

My therapist told me I'm definitely in the final healing period for my shins, and with all of the exercises and advice he'll be giving me, he even told me that running should be in my future again.  Honestly, walking briskly is fine with me but if he can promise me I'll be able to run, that is fantastic news.  Within two months, I should be able to do intense distance walking again.

Though it was raining today, I can see there are most definitely clear skies on the horizon.  I have such a good hopeful feeling with this turn of events.

(Not) Born to Run

An update on my role in the world of jogging and walking is long overdue.  The last five weeks have been difficult for me in terms of exercise.  Now's a good time to finally share what's been happening.

The last time I jogged was on February 7th.  It was a 3 mile jog, and I was proud of myself for finally beating the 12 min/mile pace.  I really felt like I was making progress in transitioning from brisk walking to jogging.  But I was ignoring the sharp pains in my shins.  You're told to "run through the pain" and I did, proudly.  But I've now recognized you shouldn't run through sharp pain.  That's your body telling you, "Hey, I'm not just tired - I'm literally falling apart here, so you had better stop this."  On that last jog, I even sprinted and though the pain intensified (it felt like a knife was cutting along the front of my shins), I stuck with it.

For several days, the pain stuck around, but I started to think maybe jogging just wasn't for me.  So on February 13th, I went for a semi-brisk 3.2 mi walk.  Still ignoring my body's screams, I walked through the sharp pain.  After that walk, I finally listened and decided I would rest until the pain went away.

Except the pain didn't go away.  Week after week, the pain was in fact getting worse.  Simple walking, standing up, sitting down, sleeping - it didn't matter, the pain was there.  So I scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon.  Maybe this wasn't just your simple case of shin splints.  I was lucky that I only had to wait a week for the appointment, even as a new patient.

During the appointment on March 7th, the doctor did a physical examination of my shins, pushing here and there, asking if anything hurt.  At one point, I nearly yelped in pain and he immediately thought it was stress fractures.  A stress fracture is a small crack in your bone, though not as bad as a full fracture.  It is however an indication you're overdoing it.  So he sent me to have x-rays and a bone scan to confirm that diagnosis. 

The tests were done on March 10th.  The x-rays were straight-forward but I'd never had a bone scan before.  They injected a radioactive fluid into my bloodstream, then I waited three hours for the radioactive fluid to spread throughout my system.  Then they did the actual bone scan.  They strapped me down (literally) and told me I would need to lie completely still for thirty minutes as a machine overhead scanned my body.  It's not like an MRI where you're in a tube; in a bone scan, the machine is simply above you, albeit only a couple inches above you.  Apparently, a bone scan can see where your blood is flowing in greater amounts.  If it is flowing more than usual in a certain place, it likely means your body is in the process of healing itself in that location.  Hence, if you have a stress fracture, the bone scan will show a dark area in that location because the bone is healing.  The bone scan results are then compared with the x-rays.

When I returned to the doctor this morning, I really thought he'd tell me the bone scan confirmed stress fractures.  Instead he said, nope - it's definitely shin splints.  He showed me the x-rays and bone scan.  I find these fascinating, by the way.  The x-rays showed all was well with the bones in my legs.  But he pointed out the bone scan did show the shin splints at least.  There were clear dark areas along the sides of my shins, and he said it was a classic case of shin splints.  Granted, I do have severe shin splints, but now I kind of feel like I'm a wuss!  My pain tolerance must be lower than I thought.  The doctor said rest will cure shin splints, but he was concerned that the five weeks of rest I've had so far hadn't yet relieved the pain.

So, now he's recommending I get an MRI to get a closer look at the shin splint injury and see if there's any other factors at play here.  The MRI has yet to be scheduled, as they're waiting to hear from my insurance company for approval.  But at least the main diagnosis of shin splints is confirmed.

I will continue to rest my legs.  No brisk walking, and certainly no jogging.  The doctor said that perhaps, "jogging is just not your friend."  I'd agree.  All I really want to do is briskly walk - I enjoy walking, and I'm good at it.  Heck, I beat the 3 hour mark in a half marathon just walking, and I'm proud of that!  I'm just ready to get back to exercising.  I miss it all, and I can't wait to have it back in my routine.

The lesson here for me is that Bruce Springsteen's song "Born to Run" doesn't quite fit in my situation.  That's right, Bruce, you've got it wrong.  But you better believe that when I'm in good shape again and briskly walking, my iPod playlist will include that song out of pure spite!  Haha, it's good to have a goal.

I'll keep you all updated on what happens with the rest of my journey to full recovery.

Twelve Minutes

On Monday evening, I got in another three-mile work-out at the indoor track on campus which is really only a two-minute walk from my apartment - super-advantageous for when I'm walking in shorts and it's only 10 degrees outside.  I took pride in the fact that for the second time in a row, I was able to jog for a full mile without stopping or walking.  I jogged a little more throughout the three miles than I did on Saturday.  And this is all paying off because I beat my pace record and broke the 12-minute mark.  11'57"/mile average! 

It appears that during my mile-long jog, it took about 10-11 minutes.  My brisk walking pace is more like 13:30.  So it should figure that if I can gradually increase my stamina, I could jog for a longer period of time and keep on improving my time.  I'm also thinking about buying some weights to do some strength training at home.  Ever since I quit the gym a couple months ago, strength training went 'poof' and we simply can't have that!  Perhaps this weekend, I'll make a trip to a sporting goods store.  My federal tax return should help with that!

As much as I'm happy about my time last night, my shins are killing me.  I know I might have overdone it, and part of the problem might have been when I did a one-lap sprint.  A friend pointed out that I might be tensing up in my legs which could contribute to shin splints.  Reflecting back, I probably did tense up for that lap (plus there was sharp pain in my shins during that sprint).  But the rest of the jog felt pretty darn good - a little bit of shin pain then, but very tolerable.  Another factor is the track's surface might be a bit tough on the shins.  I might need to rest an extra day to give time to heal first.  A shin fracture from repeated stress without rest time would be bad news bears.

If you'd like to see a visual chart showing my work-out on Monday, have at it.  I love the Nike+ipod that I use for my indoor walks where GPS is not possible.  Here it is: http://go.nike.com/63etido

Oh yeah, and in case you're wondering, there was nothing whack on the track this time around. :-)