For the past couple of months, I’ve had to contend with a real pain in the butt. You know the one…that nagging thing (or person) that just won’t go away. It’s not that it’s necessarily horrible, it’s just that it’s always there. For me, it wasn’t actually a pain in the butt, but rather, a pain in the hip. In early November I slipped and fell down a few stairs and hit the side of my hip pretty hard. About three days later a big bruise externalized, so I knew whatever injury I had, it went deep. I was pretty sure, however, that I didn’t break anything. I laid off of running for about two weeks to let things settle down. The bruise finally went away but the pain (more of an ache by then) was still there. I ran a local Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day, and I felt good during the run. But later in the day, the ache got worse. Over the next two weeks, even the shortest of runs would aggravate the area. So again, I decided to lay off of running for a short while.
Between the busy holiday season and some nasty cold weather in the Midwest, that “short while” included most of December. I had grand plans to run outside throughout the winter, but I also didn’t want to risk falling on ice and causing more harm to my already aching hip. I did a few treadmill runs, but the boredom of being stuck indoors resulted in some pretty short runs. With the pain still there a full two months later, I finally decided to get it checked out. We started with x-rays to make sure there was no evidence of a break. Not that anything would be done about it two months after the fact, but at least we would know it was there. The good news is, nothing was broken. The even better news is that my 55-year-old joints show no evidence of arthritis. Yay! So the diagnosis was bursitis, or an inflammation of the bursae of the joint. A steroid injection that day did the trick. By the time I walked out of the office, the pain was nearly gone.
Just two days later I went out for a run. I felt so good that my planned five mile run turned into seven easy miles. I felt like I could run forever! I’ve gotten a few more runs in since the injection, and I still feel great.
When I first started running, I did a lot of research on common running injuries and how to avoid them. I worried I might sustain an injury while running, but I never really thought about how a non-running injury would prevent me from running. A simple fall resulted in my skipping over a month of running. I’m not training for any major early Spring race but still, ignoring my pain (or at the very least, not getting it checked out) took me away from running for too long of a period of time.
On a positive note, during my time away from running, I’ve been practicing yoga to help stretch out and strengthen all of my muscles. I even nailed a handstand for the first time in years! With two more months of winter (or whatever Mr. Groundhog tells us tomorrow), there’s plenty of time to get back into the swing of things. Come Spring, I’m hoping it will seem as if I didn’t miss a step.
Have you had an injury that kept you from running? What alternative workouts do you do when you’re unable to run? Do you run outside year-round?
Oh wow I’m glad to hear your hip injury is finally healed. I had to DNS 2 marathons due to hip issues. When I can’t run and I have an important race coming up, I pool run. I also cycle but pool running is the closest substitute.
I’ll have to remember the pool runs. I hope this is the end of it, but we’ll see once the steroid injection wears off.
I’ve been carefully adding in the miles after taking a little break to ease right hamstring pain. I saw a PT in Dec and after a few weeks it felt better but I stopped doing the exercises he assigned and it re-appeared! Grrr. So I’m making them part of my cool down routine. Love your handstand! I’m working on nailing one before the year ends 🙂
That’s the thing about PT…it works! The good news is, you can go back to it. My handstand surprised me! I have a bad shoulder, so I wasn’t sure I could do it.
Yay! I’m glad to hear you’re pain-free now. What’s the prognosis? Will it ever go away?
Thanks! There’s a good chance it will go away since it was (probably) the direct result of an injury. I will know in few weeks when the steroid injection starts wearing off.
I’ve never had a runners injury actually I have yet to injure myself and hope I don’t but I know that I would be really disappointed if I did. Way to listen to your body and rest sometimes that’s all we need to do and way to master that handstand. That is a goal of mine this year to do handstand pushups.
I have to admit, it was really easy to lay off of the running with the cold winter weather! Handstand pushups? Wow!
So glad your hip is feeling better! Nice on the handstand I so want to learn how to do it
Thanks! It’s not just arm strength as I once naively thought. It definitely works your core as well!
Yes, I do run outside year-round, but this January has been a big exception to my norm (I’ve been on the ‘mill more than I care to acknowledge). A couple weeks ago, I did an accidental (almost) split on the ice…one of those experiences that felt like the universe was in slow motion as my hamstring kept getting extended beyond what felt good. Oh did that hurt! And, I was walking the dog…NOT running when it happened.
Ouch! The ice really scares me. I worry about snow too, because you never know what’s under it!
Last spring I trained for Big Sur–in the pool! I was sidelined for a while with really severe plantar fasciitis! Which was probably the start of my RA. Who knew? I’ve been sidelined quite a bit the past couple of years. I’ve gotten pretty good at cross training. Glad to hear you are on the mend. Will you be joining me at the Lakefront 10 in March?
I think your Big Sur recap was one of your first blog posts I read…literally brought me to tears! My son and I had looked into the Lakefront 10 but we will be in Puerto Vallarta March 12 – 20. I am going to try to get into the MCM, but if I don’t, I am considering Grandma’s!
Please do!!! We’ve got a few fun bloggers running it! What a blast. Have fun in Mexico.
Thanks. I’d love to join you guys! We will see…
I’m happy to hear that your hip injury is healed. I suffer from IT band syndrome so I definitely know how frustrated a running injury can be!
Frustrating, for sure! Hopefully you can keep your ITBS at bay!
I love to see the all of you who take advantage of the pool. It is such a great alternative to running. Great Cardio and utilizes all muscles in legs . Get those foam white dumbells that most pools have and get a great upper body workout as well. One thing most people don’t know is that as soon as they jump into the water your core is engaged working to keep that body aligned. Linda, good to hear you are back in action and wow to the handstand!! Happy running everyone!!
Thanks, Margie! I like the idea of the pool as an alternative. Gotta keep moving!
So thankful your hip injury has healed! I love those days when you feel like you could run forever! I’ve had IT Band issues in the past and several knee injuries from running training runs too fast. I had to weight lift to strengthen my leg muscles. Thankfully, I’ve been injury free nearly two years!
I think strengthening those leg muscles is key! Working on muscle strength is a major goal of mine this year.
I’m so glad you’re back to running!
I took almost a year off to focus on hip and glute strength because I kept getting injured and now I’m feeling strong.
Wow! A year off is tough! Great that you can come back to it, stronger and better!
Glad you are back, I have has multiple injuries that have kept me from running, unfortunately
Bummer! Hopefully you have found some alternatives to running, and can someday make your way back!
Kudos to you for such a strong comeback! I am glad the hip is playing nicely and you are back at running. All the yoga had to have helped, it has been the one thing that I have been so happy that I added to my schedule. It is a game changer for runners.
I think the yoga definitely helped. I want to continue that as well as incorporate more strength training this year.
Glad to hear you are on the mend. I’ve had some bigger injuries – hamstring that side lined me for 9 months and more recently, an ankle injury that Iv’e been dealing with for 6 months.
UGH. I hate hearing about these injuries keeping people sidelined for such long periods of time. I guess I can’t complain about my little diversion…
Getting hurt while not runnning may be even more frustrating than running injuries! I can be really clusy at times. GLad you’re feeling better!
Haha thanks! I definitely felt like a klutz tumbling down those stairs!
That handstand is incredibly impressive! Wow!
Thanks! It didn’t last long, but I did it!
Glad your hip is feeling better. So jealous of your handstand! I want to get mine back, but I haven’t really be devoting any time to working on it.
Thanks! I need to work more on the handstand. I was able to hold it long enough for a pic, but that was about it!
I hit the elliptical when I can’t run. It’s not my favorite, but it keeps me (somewhat) sane. I once fell on a run and hit my knee so hard that I had to take 3 weeks off to let it heal. I thought I was going to lose my mind because nothing that bent my knee felt good.
It’s nice when there are other options, but I’m with you on the elliptical!
I had plantar fasciitis a year ago (and times before that), and when it got bad I decided I needed to stop pounding on my feet for a while to heal up. So I switched to road cycling for the summer — and fell in love with that! But after that, I went to the podiatrist and finally got some custom orthotics made. I wish I’d done that years ago; it has been a Godsend.
Glad you found a new love and a fix for the plantar fasciitis!
I’ve had too many to count, good luck getting back to it. Injuries suck.
Thanks ~~ now if the weather would just cooperate!
Congrats on nailing that handstand! Even if taking time off from running and practicing yoga wasn’t your plan, you did nail an accomplishment during your time away from running. Way to go!
Thanks! Always good to mix it up!