Just today I received an e-mail from a reader, who happens to be seeking information about plantar fasciitis. I suffered from the condition when I first started running three years ago…along with several other injuries. Accordingly, I thought I would share my experience with a few relatively common running woes.

Disclaimer: The information below is based on recommendations from my healthcare providers—please do not consider my account to be any substitute for medical advice!

Plantar fasciitis. When I first started running, I immediately began running three miles per day, six days a week. On a track. In inappropriate shoes. That’s what you call a recipe for injury.

Not only was I doing too much too soon, but I was doing it an a way that set me up to hurt my body—repeated laps around a tiny track (11 laps=1 mile) in ill-fitting shoes took its toll on my body, specifically my feet. Soon, I found it painful to even walk, and my ankle became swollen. I stopped running for a while, applied ice frequently, and took pain-relievers on occasion.

However, it wasn’t healing as fast as I would have liked, so I headed to the student health center. Once there, an extremely helpful doctor explained that I had plantar fasciitis, a condition in which the thick tissue that connects the heel to the toes becomes inflamed. She provided me with an ankle brace as well as a gel insert to put in my shoe, then sent me on my way. About a month later, I was good to go…after buying new shoes of course!

Piriformis

Several months later, I was really getting into the groove. I was running 25 miles per week and loving it. Then one day I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. The pain was so intense that it was painful to sit, let alone run.

Once again, I headed to the student health center (where I waited an agonizing three hours to be seen). The doctor hypothesized that I had injured my piriformis muscle, a  muscle that lies deep within the buttock and when inflamed may refer pain to the lower back. The doctor provided me with a set of exercises to perform twice a day, told me to get some rest, and wait it out. Yet again, about a month later, I was able to return to my running routine.

I am currently suffering from another nasty bout of this injury, except this time the pain is referred to my right hip. I haven’t run since mid-July, and it’s still quite tender. Lugging a heavy backpack every day certainly is not helping the condition! I pray that this injury resolves itself soon—I’m going crazy without running!

Stress fracture

Last January, I set a New Year’s Resolution to run my first half-marathon. Ever the iron-willed chica, I was not going to let anything get in my way of achieving this goal—not even intense hip pain. I ran through extreme discomfort, all in the name of my half-marathon until I broke. By the time the spring semester had begun, I was limping to all my classes. I had a serious problem.

I stopped running. Then I waited….and waited…and waited. Six weeks passed, and my hip was still driving me crazy. I scheduled an appointment with the orthopedist—this injury need some medical attention.

At my first appointment, the doctor took an X-ray and found nothing, but he ordered a bone scan just to be sure. A few weeks later, in the middle of spring break, I received what seemed like the worst news ever—I had not only one stress fracture but two, one in each hip (in different places, however). I burst into tears on the phone.

The next eight weeks definitely required an adjustment—I had to experiment with new ways to exercise. I tried swimming, stationary biking, and even a little Pilates to mix things up.  Eventually I returned to the orthopedist’s office, where he gave me the go-ahead to resume running. The moral of the story on this one is plain and simple: listen to your body!

With all that being said, here are a few guidelines I try to follow to prevent injury:

• Make sure you’re wearing the right shoes and/or accessories. Throughout my stress fracture experience, I found out that I have one leg that is slightly longer than the other. Once I got a new pair of shoes and an insert for the shorter leg, I suffered far less pain.
• Stretch. I’ll admit it. I really hate stretching, as I am quite possibly the least flexible human being alive, and the act of stretching just brings this flaw to my attention. Nonetheless, it is so important to keeping your muscles in good shape. While you’re at it, you might consider foam rolling too.
• Listen to your body. I have a bad habit of ignoring my body’s cries for help (a trait that likely arose out of having an eating disorder). But the truth is, most of the time your body knows exactly what is best for you. Give it some credit and listen—if you feel sore, take a day off, take a bath, or at least try a different activity. It is so tempting to “be tough,” but really the best route is to pamper yourself when it comes to preventing injury.

Have you ever experienced a sports-related injury? How did you cope? What tips would you add to the list to avoid injury altogether?

Another part of preventing injury—being well-fed!

I’m on another raisin bran kick these days, so I made a parfait with it this morning, along with cottage cheese & a Fuji apple. Mmmm….

When I picked out the strawberry balsamic dressing recipe to make for lunch today, I had envisioned lots of grilled veggies and tofu…but by the time I got around to packing my lunch last night, I was just too tired. Colorful veggies sufficed. The dressing was delicious by the way. I will be making more in the future!

Here’s how it looked all dressed up (courtesy of my crappy Blackberry camera):

For dinner, I made an Ellie recipe, Tomato-Stuffed Peppers.

I’ll be honest, I’ve been avoiding this recipe because it just seemed weird to me—why would you stuff a vegetable with another vegetable? Anyway, it turned out to be pretty tasty! Then again, I’ll eat anything involving olives and garlic.

Judging by the looks of this meal, I’m not quite ready for the end of summer—I love fresh produce!

OK, I have coupons to clip. Good night!

Filed under: Meals