What to do when injured?

DogSlySmile

Hey!

Ive been running for about 3 years now, mostly just a couple of 2 mile runs but in the last 10 weeks Ive bumped that up (gradually) to 4 times a week and about 5 miles at a time.

About 4 weeks ago I noticed a pain in the top of my foot after running, it didnt hurt when I was running but I could really feel it when I was walking.

I did the Achill Roar (my first race) a few weeks ago and I figured out about 20 minutes into the run that I defo want to be doing more races! So the week after achill I started training for the 'Hunt of a run' 10k and the turfman and I noticed that the pain that I usually only got when walking was now appearing, and a lot worse, when I was running aswell.

A quick check on some physio websites informed me that I had strained my tibialis anterior tendon and it wasnt going to go away on its own.

So now I'm layed up icing my foot and using nurofen gel 3 times a day but I'm dying to get out training for these races!!!:mad::mad::mad:

Just wondering what do other runners do when they are injured?

Cheers!

RacoonQueen

Have you had it properly diagnosed? Tendon injuries can take a long time to heal because of how little blood flow there is to tendons.

Hard to say what sort of cross training you should do if you can't be 100% certain what the injury is.

robinph

I started going along to races and taking pictures which I then put up on RacePix.com when I busted myself last time. If I'd not done that I'd have just given up the running again most likely

dtf

Do yourself a favour and spend the €40 or €50 seeing a proper physio who will tell you what you need to do and how long to take off. Tryin to diagnose yourself from the internet might only lead to a longer lay off than if you seek proper advise.

For what its worth I've been off twice with injuries this year and found swimming and spinning classes help maintain basic fitness.
But don't expect to find anything to replace the buzz of running.

kingQuez

Not being funny, but whenever im sick/injured I end up signing up for a race! I only realized this a couple of weeks ago, but the time out ends up being sunk into planning out goals and doing some background checking on events.

Go get the problem checked out, especially if you're just starting to up the milage you're doing. Just resting/cross training until the pain goes away usually wont address the underlying issue; there's a reason physios go to college and rack up lots of hands on experience to get good at resolving/avoiding sporting injuries.

My first attempt at running for a marathon ended with killer pains in my feet. Second time round (a year later) I went to physio first sign of trouble, and they identified a couple of things I needed to do to help avoid injury as I upped the miles. Find someone thats got a good reputation with runners (youll find some stuff on the forum here in older posts). I assume you've gotten runners from one of the running shops where they do gait analysis (runways, some of the elveries, or amphibian king in bray?)?

DogSlySmile

Ahh sh*te...

I'm not really a 'lets go to the doctor and get my problems fixed' sorta guy, I'm more off a 'lets wait and see' when it comes to aches and pains.

But yis are right, the longer I wait to get it checked out the longer I'm prolonging the pain and time away from running.

Cheers fella's, I'll get an appointment with a physio asap.

DogSlySmile

I went to the physio last Friday (24th) not sure how much good it did me tbh.

She said my calve and hamstring muscles are quite tight so when I walk my ankle is overworking to get my heel off the ground which is causing the pain in my tendon. So she said I need to stretch 3 times a day along with icing the tendon and using nurofen gel (which I was already doing).

So now after a week of doing this the tendon still feels the same and doesnt seem to be getting better. I guess I thought that by seeing the physio all my problems would be sorted and would be back to running asap.

I'm supposed to go back and see the physio tomorrow but I really dont want to pay another €60 to be told to 'rest and stretch' ya know?

What would you other runners do????