Saturday, April 18, 2009

"Dear Runner (LT) Chick"- Response (original msg in post below)

Here's my response to a fellow runner chick from Austin, TX (see original message in post below)...

Hi Leslie,

I often think about my abandoned blog and it makes me so sad, like i left my baby in a dumpster or something...sigh... (sorry, inappropriate reference). Sorry that I haven't posted any updates on my recovery in what seems like ages. I guess you could say that I've pretty down about things. Running is our lifeblood and it gets tricky sometimes without that regular outlet... very tricky.

So, here I am 5 months post op, wondering if the tear in my labrum was actually really the cause of my pain. I'm back to full strength and am getting around town just as well as I did prior to surgery, but as for running, I haven't really been making the progress I'd like to. For instance I ran outside for 20mins last night and it was like the highlight of my week. My chest was burning since I'm royally out of running shape at the moment, but every step gives me hope of getting back to where I once was.

It sounds as though, like me, you have quite a few different things going on. Without looking back to see what I wrote on my blog, I can tell you that I've come to find out (after surgery) that I have some pretty serious hamstring tendinitis. The whole idea with going in the direction of surgery was to fix my labral tear in order to then properly treat the tendinitis (with PT). However, we're still in a touch and go phase and I still haven't found anyone who will talk to me in more than generalities. SO FRUSTRATING! But for the most part, my PT and physician (who are working together on this) have remained positive, but seemed stumped on the day to day - up & down of my progress. One day, I feel fantastic (meaning, I can walk and sit comfortably with no pain or tightness) and then I push a little further with running or some other form of exercise and then the next thing I know the throbbing, achy pain is back. I've come to terms with fact that there are quite a few things going on in there... and unfortunately, I didn't get the right help/treatment five or six years ago when the first signs of this started. I did have a labral tear, but I also have hamstring tendinitis and I think there's some piriformis (nerve) stuff going on in there too. So, I know it's still a long road of treatment and patience ahead.

So, (much like my doctor) I don't have a clear answer for you, but definitely go for an MRI and skip the regular MRI and go for the MRI arthrogram where they inject you with dye. This will better show what's going on in there (my tear didn't show on a regular MRI). As I mentioned before in my blog, some people have labral tears and are completely asymptomatic. So, definitely do your research and find someone who is well studied in this injury. I found the Runners World Discussion Board on Injuries and specifically the LONG thread on Labral tears to be very helpful. You'll also probably see me on there if you go through this past year's posts. You'll come to see that there are many of us out there with similar symptoms. It's a very poorly diagnosed injury and there are many people out there grasping at straws to find out what is going on.

Hit me up when ever you want to vent or trade symptoms. I could talk about this for hours (while I'm not out running).

But don't get me wrong, I still have hope and WILL get back out there... hopefully soon!
Take care and best of luck to you!!

Denise

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