Good news! Progress is being made and I am moving forward.
Last weekend I should have been running at Rat Race Man v Mountain, another trail run of 22miles with over 5,000ft of ascent along a route that runs from Caernarfon to Llanberis, North Wales, via Mount Snowdon. Sadly, there was no way I was going to be able to take part, but luckily for me, the local council retracted the event permit due to Coivd-19, so my entry has been deferred to the 2022 event. I will be in the very minority of entrance who are really pleased, but for me, this means I will still be able to complete the Rat Race Man Verses trinity series.
Good news is that my MRI scan did not show a stress fracture, but inflammation to the Hoffa’s fat pad. This can occur with repetitive load and stress, such as during an event like mine. As a result, I can continue to progress with rehabilitation in areas that do not increase my pain.
My rehabilitation now includes…
- Daily stretching, particularly of quads and hip flexors (I have set myself the target of doing daily yoga having subscribed to a YouTube channel to keep stretches varied)
- Regular use of my Compex Massage Gun (did you know we offer discounts on Compex Massage Guns in clinic?)
- Progressively building strength exercises to support my knee and other stabilising structures
- Re-introduction of running
Monday was my first run in 7 weeks. Having been missing running hugely and generally feeling anxious about when I would be able to return to anything like normal for my pre-injury exercise levels, I was genuinely nervous about returning to running. Sounds silly but what if I made it worse and pushed myself back further?
I knew it was important to gradually introduce running and would be unable to simply pick up where I left off. Afterall, the longer you have off, the longer it takes to come back, especially when injury or illness is involved. Having successful completed my pre-requisites to running pain free and without an increase in symptoms afterwards, it was time to reintroduce running.
Pre-requisites to running: Hopping x10 times, single leg squat with control x10, pain free walking.
Despite being marathon fit (or not!) just 7 weeks ago, I am starting back with just a 10 minute session, consisting of 1 minute easy run : 30 seconds walk (repeated 5 times) During this time it is really important to listen to how my knee is feeling. My knee started to ache during the 5th repetition, so I completed the remaining 10 minutes by walking. The plan now is to continue with this session 3 times per week until I can complete 10 repetitions pain free and not have an increase of symptoms afterwards. (Read more about building running gradually here)
