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!
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
I have defintiely had similar experiences when coming back form an injury and having that fear in the back of my head of reinjury. Never hurts to take the extra time to recover and come back slowly. Hope you continue to improve!
Thanks! I am ready to feel confident about feeling better!
Yay! It sounds like your hip is recovering beautifully. I know- starting running again can be scary because you analyze every twinge and ache. I think a week of hiking will be good for your hip AND your mind- and when you come back the whole experience will be behind you.
I recommend Yesteryear if you haven’t read it yet!
That was a good one — although I would have liked it better if I didn’t know what was coming!
I had some hip pain this week after my long run on Weds. Of course, I went right to a stress fracture and then reminded myself it was probably ITB pain. It’s been a while since I’ve had a running-related injury, and I don’t want to deal with that!
I loved Contrapasso by Dave Eggers — my favorite book of this month.
Oh, thanks, I’ll check it out.
That’s great news about your hip and how it’s responding to treatment. I’d also be sceptical about stopping the treatment so soon!
Pain is so complex, it has so many components. And after a troublesome injury, I completely understand about analysing every move and how it feels especially coming back to something you really want to be able to do. I hope your hiking trip will give you the distraction you need and also the actual hiking should be good for recovery too as it’s good movement but low impact.
I’m really excited about it!
I remember being absolutely paranoid about my Achilles. Fortunately, it was all “only in the mind”. Speaking of, thanks for the link to that “Hidden Brain” podcast! So interesting about the three components!
Let’s hope your recovery continues going smoothly!
That podcast is usually very interesting and quite well done.
Ah yes, I know the feeling you are having very well! I have been doing PT for my knee, and just when I think there is no issue at all, I feel something. Is it real or am I just overthinking it??
A hiking trip sounds fun!
I hear that fear of doing too much too soon! I think erring on the side of caution is always wise. That said, it’s great to hear things are feeling better!
I love that Andy class. So good. Glad you’re feeling strong and being appropriately cautious. Shocked you have a flat area.
I know exactly how you are feeling. My Achilles feels fine when I run but I’m not convinced it’s healed. If I don’t run, I wake up in pain in the middle of the night. What?
I’m continuing to run cautiously and go to PT.
Enjoy your hiking trip.
It’s great that your hip is responding well to physical therapy and shock wave treatment. I think you’re smart easing back into your running, and I can understand being overly cautious. Here’s hoping you and Scooby will be back on the running trail and feeling great soon!
Rachel’s book is good with some outstanding stories. However, I feel it’s super easy to get into our own feedback loop of “wondering” which can make recovery hard! Good job on keeping up with what you can!
Cautiously optimistic is a valid emotion for all this.
You’re getting in great motion and doing great things and I hope it all leads to a full recovery.
Your hiking trip sounds like loads of fun, too!