Discussion: injuries

Anyone got some cool injuries they want to discuss? Maybe we can help each other.
Currently, knock on wood, I am healthy.

when I stretch out, recently my hip has been starting to hurt, from when i injured it last year during XC, when i fell pretty hard on it, and was out for a couple of weeks...but when I am actually running, and in stride, it seems fine, but I am also like joe, no major injuries...

I'm doing fine (knock knock) at the moment, the IT-band injury I had from the troll cup seems to be pretty much healed, although I'm still being cautious about training.

I guess the "coolest" injury I ever had was two years ago on april fools day when I stress-fractured my femur (an odd place for stress fractures I'm told) during a rainy track workout. we were doing 8x400 and on the second turn of the 4th one I heard a pop and it felt like my knee gave out. I finished the interval witht the help of some adrenaline, but needless to say I didn't do any more after that.

the wierd thing is that it took me completely by surprise. I actually felt pretty good during the interval up until that point, except for some achilles tendon soreness. yeah I was asking for it, by pounding a lot of hard miles on hard pavement with bad form, but I figured there would be some warnings anyway.

I was on crutches for the next month, and barred from running for two. one month after that I went to JWOC in france and did poorly (not suprisingly).

The moral of this story? if your feet/legs hit hard while running, you may be on the road to serious injury, regardless of how much "cushion" your shoes have.

(having said that, I think hard heel-strike on the downhills is what caused my injury at the troll cup. some people never learn I guess;)

Always stretch for 5-10 minutes BEFORE and AFTER the run. Specially pay attention to lower legs and knees (although back and below back should be under attention too :). Don't run long on the pavement - I prefer desert or woods trails for 10-15 miles runs. If you do run on the pavement switch occasionally sides so you would not run on the same side thus puting under danger your knees due to the pavement slope. Do other sports except for the run :) Weights, aerobics, yoga, freesbie, soccer, hockey are good additions to running. I hope my training motivates others :) Good luck and stay free of troubles.

Sergey <:)

I don't stretch before running, unless I have already warmed up on a bike or some other way. In my experience, stretching when cold can lead to problems like pulled muscles. I usually do about 15 minutes of stretching afterwards though.

I think the stretching before should be done. Possibly combined with a warmup run. I usually do light stretching just after getting suited up (tape ankles, clothing, compass, punch card etc.) then go for a slow warmup. Then stretch abit more and jog to the start. By the time I start I feel loose. If not it will be a bad day.
I find the less I run the days before the tighter I will be, but I usually feel rested. You have to find the right combo for yourself.
On the other hand I usually forget to stretch afterwards.
Not sure if running is helping Joels hip. Maybe overuse problem, maybe not. Try stretching and possibly riding the bike instead of running. Hey, I am no doctor so consider what I say as just one opinion of many.
Later, Joe

I am sorta with Kenny...I like never strech before orienteering what so ever, and I have never gotten seriously injured, but as for XC, i stretch before and after I run, and I have gotten a lot more injuries there than in XC, and to me, orienteering is more likely to get an injury than XC.

Speaking about stretching BEFORE run, it always should be done when your legs are warm after some slow run for 5-10 minutes. Use that kind of stretching when you just load your ankles or knees and hold it for 15-30 seconds. Slowly pull and slowly release - you are guaranteed your problems would go away. Always stretch AFTER to release stress from your joints and muscles. Same kind of stretching recomended. Good luck.
Sergey

Hi all.
I seem to be more-or-less healthy right now (knock-on-wood), but am always nursing nagging little injuries like constantly spraining ankles, recurring shin splints, and a weird jammed feeling in my foot when i run on asphalt for extended periods of time. Anyone know good solutions (and causes) for these problems? Also, Sergey, I completely agree with you on doing other sports - especially soccer, frisbee, and hockey. Although, referring to your ealrier comments, I don't know how you manage to run in the desert. :)

Cheers,
Boris

Boris,
Desert is right here at the gate of my work so I have the privilege to observe herds of antilopes and caws :) while running my long lunch trails :) Sometimes it gets really hot (~100-110F in the shade) so the one will not leave the premises without BIG bottle of water :) By the way, Idaho is the place of the tallest dunes in North America - quite impessive to see 500-600 m high piles of sand :) Not to mention some 10,000-12,000 ft mountains :) Good luck and be careful with soccer - I had fractures 2 times after soccer game. Same about hockey - both can be quite aggressive. Stretch BEFORE and AFTER !!!
Sergey

Not much of a cool injury but I fell and broke my wrist at the Billygoat. Thought it was just sprained at the time but it started to really hurt on the drive home. Cast should come off this Friday 6/16.

Latest injury is still unknown. About two weeks ago I got a rash on the back of the knee. Looked like it could be from an insect or spider bite, rope burn from my gaiters or both. Swelled up, turned red and hurt but skin was not broken. Pain was pretty much all from swelling making it hard to bend my knee. Treated with hydrocortizone creme, internal antihistamine, topical antihistamine and ice. (Not all at once but over the next week) Also washed with Tecnu and washed all clothes and sheets in case of poison ivy. Swelling is down, no real pain but red area has continued to spread. The first area affected (where the gaiter string went) has peeled like an old sunburn. Could be Lyme? but consensus at Hillybilly was did not look and feel right for Lyme disease. Maybe some kind of blood poisoning and I should see a doctor. I plan to, but my doctor has retired and I still need to select a new one.

I stretch before running if I expect to go hard right out of the gate. I always include some jogging also to warm up. The shorter and quicker the race, the more stretching and warmup I do. I also warmup/stretch if I have nothing else to do, so I stretch before races but not usually before my own workouts. Of course, I have led a pretty much injury free life no matter what kind of physical abuse I put my body through. In 26 years of running I have never had a serious injury. My lifetime injury list is sprained ankle(4)-orienteering, sore foot-soccer (out 2 months), groin pull-soccer (out 1 month), sprained finger-softball and my first broken bone at the goat.
Tim

Though it's not even slightly cool, I strained my Achilles tendon on Memorial Day (doing step aerobics, no less--extremely uncool!). I was able to keep running for a week or so after, but then it was worsening so I stopped. Now I'm icing 3 x 20min per day, and it's improving quite a lot. I'll test it out running tomorrow (first time in a week) and if it's good then I'll race this weekend. I had been concerned about it for the upcoming Scandinavia trip (July 8-29) but now I'm optimistic.

This is my worst injury since I've been orienteering, though I also had some plantar fasciitis back around January (mostly gone now). I had all sorts of overuse problems in college, but at that time I was running about 70 miles/week, with lots of speed work!

I am also suffering an achilles tendon problem. The tendon seemed to get strained when I did a long uphill run in the mountains near Santa Fe, NM (which must be cooler than step aerobics!). I gave myself a few days off, then tried running and it got much worse. So, I decided to take a good 6 weeks away from running.

Most of the injuries in my O' career have been mild traumatic injuries (several dog bites, hit by a car while cycling, smashed a knee on a rock).

I'm jumping on this thread a little late, but what the heck. I am on the rebound from Coronary Artery Disease - not cool at all, but very, very unexpected. Back in early February I began to get a burning sensation in my neck and jaw when I ran hard, it would go away when I backed the pace off. First couple of times I attributed it to cold air or perhaps acid reflux - but after a couple bouts, I went to see the doctor. Ended up finding one of my coronary arteries 90% blocked - a heart attack waiting to happen - and I'm under 40, in good shape (not as fast as some of you, but certainly in good shape), low cholesterol, good diet etc... Totally out of the blue.

I had a balloon angioplasty and a stent implantation in mid April and in mid May I was given the green light to resume running. I am avoiding competition for the summer to rebuild my base with the intent of focusing on the US Champs in November. So far I feel stronger than since before I began orienteering 5 years ago. Perhaps I may even step up and run a few Blue courses....

moral - don't ignore chest/neck pain under any cirumstances - you can have heart disease even though you don't fit any of the standard profiles.... and the first major symptom is often DEATH, pretty hard to come back from....

stay tuned.....