Hesitating On The Road To Recovery

There’s no doubt about it. After three weeks of physical therapy and two shockwave treatments, my hip is getting better. So why am I not jumping for joy? I think fear is making me hesitant as I progress along the road to recovery.

Why am I not more excited?

Hesitating On The Road To Recovery

At my second shockwave appointment on Monday, after telling my doctor my hip responded well to the first treatment, I balked when she suggested I might not need any more treatments. While I had enjoyed some stretches of 100% pain-free status over the weekend, the pain/tightness still comes and goes. I told her I was just starting to up my running, so I preferred to keep my next appointment to see how that goes. 😬

I think one thing holding me back is the constant self-assessment. Am I feeling it now? How about now? Was that a twinge? Oh, did I just stand up/turn around/run 20 seconds without feeling anything? Is it back again? 😵‍💫

I’m thinking about this even more (thinking about thinking about pain) since listening to last week’s Hidden Brain episode on How To Combat Pain. The guest was psychologist Rachel Zoffness who spoke about the role our minds play in our experience of pain. She discussed a theory that pain has three components: biological (what we usually focus on), psychological (e.g., the impact of stress, anxiety, and depressed mood vs. joy,  relaxation, and gratitude), and sociological (e.g., socioeconomic status, access to care, social support, and lived experience, including history of abuse/trauma). Her thesis isn’t that pain is all in our heads, but that it’s not necessarily 100% physiological either. 🤔

I generally think I’m too good at blocking out/ignoring pain, but this injury has me hyper-focusing on every twinge in a way that may be holding me back from feeling good about the progress I am making on the road to recovery. Hopefully my upcoming vacation will provide enough distractions to pull me away from this too!

Weekly Run Down

Looking back on my week, I’m surprised how much running I did—and how much better I feel since even last Sunday. I will be keeping my third shockwave treatment on Monday, but maybe I’ll postpone/cancel the last one I had scheduled for mid-August.

Sunday I took Scooby for a run/walk before church (covering about 2 miles), and then met my friend rehabbing from her cardiac bypass surgery for another long walk.

Monday I warmed up with a Peloton hip mobility class, and then hopped on my treadmill for a 20 min HIIT run—following the intervals but not the intensity, which I still am keeping low. My hip felt a little pinchy afterwards, but that had worked itself out by the afternoon—when I had my second shockwave treatments.

Tuesday I gave my upper body some love with JTR’s 20 min class before hopping on my bike for a 20 min rolling hills class for Olivia. I liked the programming with shorter “hills” and bookmarked it to take again when I can push the intensity.

At my PT session, I graduated to more single-leg standing exercises. My 60 min session was a solid workout!

Wednesday I woke up my glutes with JJ’s new class which conveniently starts with floor exercises on my PT list. Starting Jess’s HIIT run, I ran straight for 3 minutes (at a very easy pace) during the warm up—my longest block in rehab—and that felt good.

I did my PT exercises in the evening

Thursday I paired a short upper body class with another rolling hills ride. Hannah F’s playlist made it an official South Asian Heritage ride—Bhangra songs are so fun to workout to!

Friday I braved my first 30 min run of rehab. Building on the “success” of my 3 min warm-up on Wednesday, I did  3 minute running intervals with 30 sec walk breaks in between. I followed up with my favorite 10 min stretch giving extra love to my left hip flexor.

I had another tough PT session later in the day, but my hip wasn’t complaining!

Saturday  I broke out the running leash for the first time in ages and took Scooby on a mostly-run with some walk breaks. I ad-libbed a flatter neighborhood route than usual and covered about 3 miles.

My hip didn’t complain, but boy do I have build up my endurance again!

So, just as I am starting my return to running, I am packing for a hiking trip with no running planned. I’m sure the extra time off can only be good for my hip, but it’s hard not to think of it as a set-back.

A huge thank you to Deborah and Kim for hosting the Weekly Run Down link up.

I need to load up my Kindle App with books for my vacation! Please let me know if you’ve read any good books lately—or your favorites so far this year!