Week 15.5 Report: A Little Hiccup

First off, congrats to all of my friends who completed the Assault on Mount Mitchell this year. After having done it the last three years, it was bittersweet watching them from a distance, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be back next year.

I briefly alluded to this last week when I bailed on The Good Ride, a decision I did not make lightly, but I have been dealing with a slight setback lately. I didn’t want to get into it too much until I understood it, and frankly, I was hoping it would pass. It really materialized a few days before The Good Ride, got worse when I walked around Ikea, and then got even worse later. More on that in a second.

Things had been going swimmingly when all of a sudden I had a new guy helping me with my pool therapy. He had me ramp it up a little bit, which was fine with me. The treadmill started going faster and faster, and eventually I had to jog to keep up. I have to take some responsibility because I never told him to slow down. That’s not in my vocabulary, which may be how I got into this mess in the first place. He was a nice guy and we got to talking, so time passed with me jogging the entire time. After about 10 minutes, I was getting sore and told him I needed to stop, even though it felt great to get some exercise.

Pain will usually linger for a couple days after a heavy PT session, as it is supposed to. This time it continued well into the week without getting better. When I returned from Charlotte, it became worse. The injury felt like it did before surgery, which was not a good sign. I shut everything down until the pain subsided.

It took awhile to connect the dots, but running was most likely the culprit. I remembered that I’m not supposed to run until roughly a year after surgery. Based on when all the pain started coming back, I am convinced that the running caused the setback.

Things became a little more manageable later in the week, and I booked an appointment on Saturday for some more therapy, the first in nearly two weeks. This time it was the same guy. I explained everything that happened. He was protective, a little defensive even, and said that there was nothing in my chart that restricted running.

We decided to go easy that day. We did some stretches. At first my hip was tight, but it loosened up as I stretched it out. Afterward he had me spend a few minutes on the step machine, pictured above. This was tough, but I went through it. The therapist should know best, right? He said to do at most 7 minutes and call it a day. I left the office feeling pretty good.

The next day was excruciating pain — some of the worst I’ve felt since surgery. Luckily it was on a Sunday because I could not have worked through it, and luckily I still had a couple of my post-op painkillers remaining or I would not have gotten through the day. It was rough, and in the moment I thought I was in a full blown setback, and began wondering if the surgery was unsuccessful and that I’d need to go back under. It was a scary day.

The next morning was rough, but a lot better. It got even better as the day progressed, and the next day I was able to walk pain free again. Today feels amazing, just like it did prior to the running incident. I think the culprit this time was the step machine because it placed too much weight on my hip, which is basically the same reason the running hurt.

Based on how I feel today, I think the scare is over. I plan to take part in the Ride of Silence tomorrow, and I’m seeing my doctor on Thursday just in case. Unless he warns against it, I expect to resume my recovery. But no running, stepping, or anything else like that. Cycling will do.