In Love (With Running)

Two days to go before my hip arthroscopy surgery and nervous jitters are getting the best of me. So I did the only thing that I knew would calm me down: I went for a run.

It was a slow and easy three-mile run — more like a jog, really — but it did help (even though my hip and groin area hurt afterward). As I looped around the park, I felt the anxiety being lifted with each passing step.

This will probably be my last time running for awhile. The orthopedic surgeon who’ll be stitching up my torn hip labrum and addressing the femoroacetabular impingement, or F.A.I., condition that caused the tear in the first place, told me to prepare for several weeks of rehabbing. Maybe, he said, I could ease back into running in three months or so.

It was running (relentless marathon training last summer, actually) that got me into this predicament to begin with. But I know that I could never give up running. I’ll just need to train a little smarter, and cross-train a lot more.

Posted in Hip Labral Tears, My Story, Running
3 comments on “In Love (With Running)
  1. vmarino says:

    Thanks so much, Armando. Using Game Ready and CPM machine judiciously. I’m just having a rough time with the anesthesia headaches that seem to be mercilessly lingering.

    • Armando says:

      It will pass in a day or so…keep leg elevated as much as possible. Dont know where you live, but you must be close if you went to HSS. I’m in Wayne, NJ, did my therapy locally for 3 months, and then kept up the routine and additional excersices on my own. I am 53 years old, in good shape, and now 6 months post-op, labral tear repair, Coleman put in 1 anchor, and shaved down some bone on the neck of my femur. I started to really make headway in the last few weeks. I found the water (pool, ocean – was in Florida recently), really helped alot more than I ever thought. Dont let anyone tell you it’s a quick recovery…it’s going to take time. There will be days you will second guess if you are really getting better or not, but it does getter better. It’s like 2 steps forward then 1 back.

  2. Armando says:

    Vivian –

    I’m sure by now you are post-op home and resting. Keep that “Game Ready” machine on you 6 – 8X a day. It will be your best friend. You will do fine. You are in good hands with Dr. Coleman. I think the world of this man – patient, knowlegable, experienced. Once I met him, I knew he was the one I would go to if I had this surgery. Again, dont hesitate to ask any questions. I you want to contact me directly by phone, just email me.

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Most athletes have experienced a “second wind,” that jolt of energy and strength that allows us, enervated and dispirited, to carry on. But sometimes our bodies cannot recover on their own – we need outside help so we can catch our “third wind.”

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