I injured myself in the Jingle Bells 5K in early December (left piriformis and left hamstring). You might recall that I was also supposed to run the Hangover Half on January 1. In a way, I was saved by the extreme cold because honestly I would have run it if the race had been held, and I absolutely should not have run it. So that ended well.
Right before Christmas, I saw a physical therapist to see what I needed to do to recover and I’ve been going once a week since then. Recovery is slow, which is typical with hamstring issues, even though I’m following instructions and doing the exercises she’s prescribed (also not doing the exercises she’s said are off limits for now).
Three weeks ago, she suggested dry needling for the piriformis issue. She thinks (and I agree) that most of my issues stem from the piriformis—it just won’t release and so the rest of the posterior chain on the left side is also clenching up. Normally, I’m very skeptical of anything well outside Western medicine, but I work with a women who runs a lot of marathons and has also had serious pain with her piriformis. She’s the one who referred me to this physical therapy practice, and she’s had dry needling done and got a lot of relief from it. So two weeks ago, I had the dry needling done.
Let me just say that dry needling is not fun. It’s not painful, at least not pain in the sense that I normally think of pain. Having had seven major abdominal surgeries plus my tonsils and adenoids removed plus sinus surgery that involved drilling bone out of my nose, I’m well acquainted with pain and this wasn’t pain. It was, however, very unpleasant. The PT placed the needles into the muscle (three different locations) and triggered a spasm. But the spasm felt very alien because it’s very clear that my own muscles weren’t doing the spasm. I don’t know how else to explain it other than that. And the spasms are quite intense and uncomfortable. My PT warned me that I would feel like I’d done 100 squats on the left leg the next day, and she was not kidding.
At home that night after the needling, I wasn’t so sure having that done was a good idea. And definitely the next day, I was really not sure about it. But then mid-morning on the second day, I realized that it didn’t hurt nearly to the point of tears to sit in a chair. Well, that was real progress.
I’m scheduled to run a 10K on February 10—this is the replacement race for the canceled half marathon earlier this year. At this point, my goals will be pretty humble:
And that leads me to tonight, when I’m having a second session done in hopes that the muscles more fully release. I’m not looking forward to how I feel afterwards this evening, or tomorrow when I have to sit in a four-hour meeting (!!) but boy I sure hope Saturday I’m feeling much improved.
Right before Christmas, I saw a physical therapist to see what I needed to do to recover and I’ve been going once a week since then. Recovery is slow, which is typical with hamstring issues, even though I’m following instructions and doing the exercises she’s prescribed (also not doing the exercises she’s said are off limits for now).
Three weeks ago, she suggested dry needling for the piriformis issue. She thinks (and I agree) that most of my issues stem from the piriformis—it just won’t release and so the rest of the posterior chain on the left side is also clenching up. Normally, I’m very skeptical of anything well outside Western medicine, but I work with a women who runs a lot of marathons and has also had serious pain with her piriformis. She’s the one who referred me to this physical therapy practice, and she’s had dry needling done and got a lot of relief from it. So two weeks ago, I had the dry needling done.
Let me just say that dry needling is not fun. It’s not painful, at least not pain in the sense that I normally think of pain. Having had seven major abdominal surgeries plus my tonsils and adenoids removed plus sinus surgery that involved drilling bone out of my nose, I’m well acquainted with pain and this wasn’t pain. It was, however, very unpleasant. The PT placed the needles into the muscle (three different locations) and triggered a spasm. But the spasm felt very alien because it’s very clear that my own muscles weren’t doing the spasm. I don’t know how else to explain it other than that. And the spasms are quite intense and uncomfortable. My PT warned me that I would feel like I’d done 100 squats on the left leg the next day, and she was not kidding.
At home that night after the needling, I wasn’t so sure having that done was a good idea. And definitely the next day, I was really not sure about it. But then mid-morning on the second day, I realized that it didn’t hurt nearly to the point of tears to sit in a chair. Well, that was real progress.
I’m scheduled to run a 10K on February 10—this is the replacement race for the canceled half marathon earlier this year. At this point, my goals will be pretty humble:
- Don’t injure myself—most important goal.
- Finish the race—so that reinforces the first goal because I can’t finish if I hurt myself.
- If possible, keep my pace under 10 minutes per mile. If I were running this in December before I hurt myself, the pace would be lower. But that’s not my current reality.
And that leads me to tonight, when I’m having a second session done in hopes that the muscles more fully release. I’m not looking forward to how I feel afterwards this evening, or tomorrow when I have to sit in a four-hour meeting (!!) but boy I sure hope Saturday I’m feeling much improved.
