The Frustrations of a Persistent Injury

It started in August 2010. I was running a hill workout and my calf just suddenly got really painful. I stopped, stretched, and iced it when I got home but, it didn’t make a big difference. After resting, it felt good enough to try again, after all I was in the Cross Country competition season.  I tried running on and off for about a month and it wasn’t getting any better so I decided to go to a physical therapist. I went through physical therapy for the rest of the cross country season and it helped with some of the pain. I missed most of the beginning meets which I was a little bit bummed about but I was focused on getting better. We tried different taping methods, deep tissue massage, and sending electric pulses through my calf, although some of these things helped it was still very painful after running. I finally just took 10 days off and tried to recover. I remember the first race back (it was an invitational) and it was cold, wet, and windy, not the best conditions but, I couldn’t do anything about that! The first mile went well, I had my Skins compression tights (the calf ones) on and my leg felt good. That didn’t last long. I think it was just after the first mile when the pain in my leg came back. I was so frustrated but I had to keep telling myself to not let it affect my race. I got through the finish line and I felt like we were back at square one again. The season was half way done and I really wanted to get to the state meet. So I decided to push through the season then take the winter to recover. I trained on and off, depending on how bad my calf was, and after the state meet I took 6 weeks completely off. During the middle of winter I started training again slowly for track. The first couple of weeks went well but, my calf still wasn’t right. The pain was decreased but it was still noticeable so, my parents and I decided it was time to seek more thorough medical help. I got an appointment with a great doctor. His initial examination didn’t reveal anything obvious so he set about eliminating possibilities, starting with those that would be most debilitating like a stress fracture. After an MRI, a compartment syndrome pressure test, and being poked with needles to release trigger points we all hoped that a diagnosis was on the horizon. The MRI didn’t show anything unusual except localized swelling. The pressures in my muscle compartments were normal so that left trigger points. A trigger point is basically when sacromere’s (parts of the muscle fibers that do the contracting) are over stimulated and are unable to release or allow for your muscle to move. This causes pain because your muscle has restricted movement. The doctor thought and still thinks that that’s what was/is causing the pain in my muscle. I’ve been to 3 appointments and he’s released all of the points on my leg that were, in lack of a better word, stuck. My 3rd appointment, and hopefully my last, was yesterday. The trigger points he had released on the previous appointments were doing well but we found one at the back of my knee that was extremely painful. He poked the point with the needle which produced a noticeable jump (a good sign we are told) and so I’m now back to waiting. He has told me to take 2 weeks completely off to recover with lots and lots of stretching and then re-start training. Luckily my spring break is next week so I can relax and recuperate, but my first track meet is the week after… I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’m finally able to run!