In some ways, this has all been surprisingly easy.
I had people close to me who were genuinely worried that I might go mad without running. With 6 weeks, and a good 15 lbs under my belt – literally – I can perhaps say with conviction that I have not gone mad. Well, so long as you don’t classify hours on the internet investigating how to buy an exercise bike that is only available in England to have it shipped here so that I could ride a stationary bike inside as madness.
A few weeks ago, the pain in my right groin was getting worse. I stopped swimming all together. And the pain got worse. So I reached out to my sports med guy and we got another MRI this time looking specifically for athletic pubalgia (née sports hernia). This is an injury of the spot where the adductor muscle in the inner part of the thigh joins the rectus muscle which forms half the abdominal six-pack right at the front of the public bone. With a fracture and inflammation in the pubic bone, it all made sense to me that this should be the explanation for my constellation of symptoms. Once I had my explanation, I’d rush right to the OR to have it all fixed up good as new.
Again I went to the radiology reading room where they review scans of the musculoskeletal system and frightened one of their docs by asking to review my own scan. The punch line seems to be that the bone is getting better at an expected rate and there might be a small tear in the aponeurosis suggesting a sports hernia.
Knowing nothing but my own history I’ve come to the following poorly sourced conclusions:
- There was evidence of healing fractures in addition to the larger fracture in the bone suggesting that even with high-volume training, I could heal the pubic bone
- Athletic pubalgia will get better with rest but tends to recur. In the limited data, including a small randomized trial, it sounds like 90% get better with surgery while most relapse without surgery
Using that information, I was ready to just return to running because why the hell not? The bone never really bothered me and healed through the type of running I want to do and the athletic pubalgia is hopeless regardless of what I do unless I go for surgery.
But –
It seems I’m not a sports-medicine trained physician. And it’s only been 6 weeks. And I’m actually thinking I’m genuinely feeling a bit better. So back to why this is easy. Despite all my perseveration, I’m presumably right where I should be. Feeling a bit better with appropriate rest and just about ready to start some physical therapy to gain some appropriate strength.
So I’ll calm down. Go on vacation. Get ready to do some serious physical therapy. And hope beyond hope that I can go back to running soon.
Spectacularly Unimportant 