Friday Coffee and Chat

Friday, May 01, 2015 · Mike Davis

Good morning and hello May! Back on January 1st I was one happy guy to turn the calendar to a new year after battling various injuries throughout 2014. However in mid-January I took a fall while running that resulted in a rather gory gash that required 18 stiches from my forehead down to my eyelid. While that gash looked pretty bad, I wasn’t on the sidelines very long and was able to get back running within a week. January brought Pilates and my by March I was feeling was feeling really strong in those areas that I physically struggled with most of 2014. April came and I began getting some momentum with both my running and my strength training, but I also started feeling a strain on the backside of my left knee. While the pain wasn’t sever it forced me to alter my regular strength training trying to lessen the stress on the knee. There had been days where I felt like it was improving but I was beginning to believe that it would be best to even stop my strength training until this pain subsided. Well this past Tuesday night during my run with the Portsmouth Runners Alley 10K group I was running on the side of the road on a slight noel and my knee buckled in and a sharp pain shot through my knee. The inner (medial) side of my knee felt clunky and hurt like heck! I regrouped and was able to run back quite slowly. I was pretty sure that this was not good. After getting home I researched some of my books and self-diagnosed myself with some type of “Medial Collateral Ligament” (MCL) damage. As a running coach I try not to diagnose my runners, but I am always trying to figure out my own injuries. I was pretty sure that the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) was okay since that in typically the outside of the knee. The pain was pretty rough so I grabbed some Motrin and battled through a night of sleep. The next morning I was able to get an appointment early but I was not feeling very optimistic. The idea that my knee was damaged really bothered the heck out of me, between my own running and my responsibilities to multiple running groups, I was pretty upset. When the doctor gave me various range of motion test she confirmed that I had in fact torn my MCL. Okay so I was right but it didn’t make me any happier. She explained that it is not a matter of repairing the ligament as that is not possible, but instead my body would adapt and learn to function with the tear. My next stop would be to get an x-ray to insure there were no fractures and then to schedule a visit to physical therapy. Thankfully the PT I like is in that same building so I was able to schedule something for that afternoon. I haven’t heard anything about the x-rays so most likely nothing showed up as broken. Later that afternoon I was back at the PT office seeing my buddy Tommy. Tommy is a great young physical therapist who helped me with my hip last fall through “dry needling”. He gave me some of the similar tests that the doctor did and he concurred with my (or the doctors) diagnosis that I have a torn MCL. We proceeded to negotiate how much time I would take off from running and I ultimately agreed to 2 weeks. Tommy will probably push it to 3 weeks and I will relent if things are progressing but I am hopeful of two weeks. The pain is pretty bad at times but just from between Wednesday and today I have some improved mobility. Last night back with the Runners Alley group I was able to ride my bike alongside of them and while that isn’t my preference it will have to do. Tommy wants me to ride my bike a lot so I guess that is what I will be doing. I must say that the first couple of days have been tough on me mentally as I am quite frustrated. The timing could not be worse and I badly want 2015 to be a great year of running for me personally. The idea that my knee would interrupt my training groups really bothers me as well, but I guess I am fortunate that I can ride my bike and still be out there. Thankfully I have others that will help with the groups so I am lucky. As far as my personal running, I need to be patient and smart about this injury and hopefully if I am, I will recover fully and enjoy the remainder of the running season. I know, I am 52 years old and it is easy to chalk these injuries up to getting older but I won’t give in to that mentality. No doubt getting older presents some challenges but I am not about to allow myself to use age as a reason to back off my running. Tommy feels the fact that I am in really good physical shape will help the healing process and I find some solace in that. I am staying as positive as I can and will do the things I need to for the best possible recovery. Yes it is a bummer but it is what it is and I must find some positives out of it and hopefully be a better runner and coach from the experience. So there you have it! Life continues and I am actually off today and have a day filled with running stuff and PT. I am grateful that things seem to be progressing so I am hopeful. I have to work the weekend but that’s okay as well. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend. We certainly have some fantastic weather on our way! God Bless! Mike