Hi Friends!  How is your week going?  Are you excited it’s almost over and time for the weekend?  Thursdays are usually my day off, and today I had an hour by hour plan for getting things done.  It started at 5 am and ends at 7 pm, intense right?  So far it’s going okay, I’m not as on track as I want to be but at least I have some specific tasks, like finally updating you about my last round of physical therapy/chiropractic care.  First though, breakfast!  I’m enjoying a veggie-packed egg & egg white omelet.  I tried to make it like the ones I get from hillside cafe all the time; it came out pretty similar if not better!  I don’t happen to have a bunch of pre-cooked roasted veggies ready in the fridge often, so this was a little treat thanks to my massive meal prep last Sunday.

INJURY UPDATE

I’m happy to report I’m finally doing a lot better and I have the skills to know how to manage my pain and decrease it.  If you recall, about six weeks ago I posted about how I didn’t want to go through the third round of physical therapy, I felt it was pointless, and I was managing just fine on anti-inflammatories.  I also knew that depending on medication to be able to move about your day was no way to live unless you had too.  So I took the leap of faith, went to see Dr. Khavari and then stopped running.  I diligently followed his protocol, every exercise he gave me I did six out seven days a week along with A TON of walking with the pup.  I would like to say that progress has been like this:

 

In reality, it’s been more like this:

 

There have been some flares, but I get over them quickly.  I’ve had so many diagnoses before, and I appreciated he never mentioned a diagnosis.  However, he did say that the pain was coming from my lower back disc, not directly my hip and treated me accordingly.  Later on, he mentioned SI instability was also a problem, but that could be fixed as well.  He focused on opening up my back, strengthening the core and glutes, and fixing my gait.

What was the problem?

• Sitting for longer than 2 minutes was excruciating.  It started right under my butt cheek, then soreness extended to the hip and down my leg.
• Running was hard, hip pain after only a couple miles, super soreness after.
• Super tight lower back on the right side, it felt like someone was always pulling me in.
• My quads would take over, and it would feel like a rubber band was wrapped around my leg.
• I didn’t know what to do or how to support it, and I didn’t know what kind of programming to put together.  All I knew is that my last round of physical therapy was quite honestly painful and didn’t help, I wasn’t going through it again.
• I had resorted to thinking there wasn’t an answer and was taking strong anti-inflammatories that got rid of most of the symptoms.  However, those anti-inflammatories are known gut irritants, and you definitely can’t take them if you ever wanted to be pregnant.  I’m not planning on that anytime soon, but I want the option!

How have things changed?

1. I can now sit at work for at least an hour at a time without significant discomfort in the hip and butt, sometimes no pain.  I can now watch a full movie or work on my computer on the couch without ANY pain.
2. If there is any pain it centers in the right SI joint, it very rarely runs down my hip and leg now (unless sitting in a car) or seated without the towel burrito for a long time (see below).  Dong the right exercises get rid of it.
3. I only need anti-inflammatories if I’m going for a long drive or traveling.  (I did take them on my recent trip to Colorado.)

What Am I Doing?

•  I wake up 30 minutes early in the morning, plug in the heating pad and go back to sleep for 30 minutes.  The heat allows my back to loosen up.
• I consistently take a MultiVitamin, Fish Oil, Curcumin, Cortrex (AM).
• I do a combination of exercises from Dr. Khavari and this program, two days on, one day off.  (Dr. Khavari is planning on making youtube videos for his exercises, so I’d instead link to them when they up then tell you now.)
• I use a towel burrito on most chairs and back support in my car. (People at work joke about how they know I’ve been a room because the towel burrito is there.

• Upgraded my “every day” work shoes to Brook’s Glycerin with orthotics.  The same shoes I will run in.
• Going in for regular adjustments, support, and athletic coaching from Dr.Khavari.

What Am I Not Doing?

• Stretching–> I’ve overstretched my piriformis to the point that it doesn’t help anymore.
• Foam Rolling directly on the pain–> I focus mainly on using the foam roller to loosen up my back and not to dig knots out of my hips or hamstrings.

What now?

I’m excited to run!  I ran the other day (kind of before I was supposed to) and other than being slightly deconditioned; I felt great.  I only ran a mile, and when I got off, I could feel the pain creeping up.  I immediately did two of the exercises Dr. Khavari had told me to do after he videoed me running for my orthotics, followed by Workout 1 from the Run With No Pain Book.  Viola!  No pain except some quad tightness.  I’ll be following Dr. Khavari’s advice on how to amp up my running.  I’m hoping and praying to be able to do our usual 10K on Thanksgiving and potentially a Half Marathon in the Spring.  I know those are big dreams, but I’m hopeful.  I’m also going to continue to focus on my two days on, one day off the schedule of core exercises and cross-training.  My entire life will be focused on the hip, glute, and core strengthening.  Mr. Hungry even said he’d join in with me some days because everyone can benefit from strengthening your intrinsic core muscles.

I want to thank you all for your kind comments and words of encouragement when I posted what was going on six weeks ago.  It made all the difference in the world to me to be able to get through the last six weeks without going crazy.

Now I’m off to tackle the rest of today’s to-do list! Phew!

Have a good one!

XOXO Kelli