Carrying Injuries.

[plodding bear]

At the moment my hip aches but I'm gradually getting back into the running, and as the hip is aching a bit less when I run I like to think it's getting better.
Talking to some folk the other day, all the wrong side of 40, it seems everyone I spoke to is carrying a niggle, seeing a physio regularly, or resting an injury.
Last time I did the Fellsman I was amazed at the amount of people there wearing knee braces and so on.
So...is it a tribute to our stoicism that we battle on regardless, or are we just plain daft?

[wycoller]

Plain daft - says he who is running his second race in two days carrying separate injuries on both legs!

[karen nash]

probably plain daft but life's too short. So much to do and so little time. I ran the Fellsman despite a very dodgy ankle and it still hasn't forgiven me but I have had fun since doing Brecon Beacons, orienteering, LAMM, Ennerdale, SLMM and GR20 plus LTofB. There is always something that niggles or hurts a bit but hey ho.

[Tahr]

PB, I think it is in our DNA, part of a runners mental outlook. The same determination to train when it is cold and raining, the thing that makes us push on when our lungs are fit to burst, and our legs are on fire, is what makes us train when we are injured.

Then we have the fear that the hard earned fitness will slip away as we rest injured, the event which we have spent months training for is now with us and despite the injury we compete because of all the work we have invested.

The thing that defines us as runners is the thing that makes us train injured.

Oh been running with a niggling pera-forma scince Oct' last year.

ATB

Tahr

[plodding bear]

I've been a bit of a wuss and not done much training, so I've lost some fitness and put some weight back on! Getting there now hopefully, but there's loads I wanted to do this year that will now have to wait.
Oh well, there's always next year!

[cyclops]

I know I'm biased, what with me being a sports & remedial massage therapist, but I really don't understand why anyone would continue to train/participate in sport when they have a niggle (of whatever level of pain/acute/chronic/short or long term).

If your car had a rattle, was running sluggish, brakes weren't quite working as well as they should - what would you do?
Yep, get it fixed.

Most of us would pay a professional who's trained, qualified and a member of a professional body to deal with it.

In fact, it goes further than that, because most cars (and motorbikes) are required to have regular servicing. Passing an MOT test is a legal requirement. With new motorbikes you're required to have the first service after only about 600-800 miles (for my motorbike that meant that my bike went in for a service after just 5 days and one road trip). So why don't people treat their bodies with the same level of care and attention. Why are people reactive not proactive?

Clearly this is something I feel passionately about because there is often some form of intervention that would mean rehab after injury could be speeded up, that niggle that prevents you from running your preferred distance or as hard as you would like could be eradicated, or in fact some injuries might not even happen in the first place if consideration was given to listening to your body and having a regular 'service' (aka maintenance massage).

Winge over; and just to be clear, I'm not saying soft tissue therapy is the magic cure for everything and everyone. The human body is quite a complex machine. But over the past couple of years I've had loads of clients walk out of my clinic, or write to me after a short while, to say that their 'problem' is cured and 'why didn't they deal with it sooner'.

[plodding bear]

I'm not moaning about their prices but I simply can't afford to go and have a (for me) fairly costly course of treatment with a physio.
I have finally managed to get to see an NHS one tomorrow but I must confess to feeling a bit of a fraud - after all, I can still run a bit, and walking is hardly ever an issue. I feel as if I'm nicking the spot of someone who really needs a physio, like a stroke victim or suchlike.
Then again, I pays me taxes, and there is definitely something not quite right and which is stopping me living the lifestyle I was working up to before, so am I being a bit hard on myself? Are NHS physios only there for the desperately needy?

[Steve John B]

If your car had a rattle, was running sluggish, brakes weren't quite working as well as they should - what would you do?
Yep, get it fixed.

Nah, put up with it till the MOT's due cos I can't afford to get it fixed. And bin the car if the repairs cost more than a replacement! (Like last time).

Anyone know where I can get a pair of low-mileage replacement legs from?

[mattp]

Are NHS physios only there for the desperately needy?

Like you say - you pay your taxes. I wouldn't hesitate to use one. It it makes a difference to your quality of life you should go for it. We used one for my little lad and she was great.

Having said that I've got a tight glutes and a niggle in the back of my thigh and I don't go to the Physio. But that's mostly down to my general dis-organisation....

[plodding bear]

I was very happy with the visit to the NHS physio, he didn't see why I thought they were only there for 'serious' cases, in fact he said it was nice to deal with someone who he was fairly sure would do the exercises he recommended! Anyway, he said don't run for five days, do these exercises at least twice daily until the next visit in about a fortnight.
So hopefully a little run on the moors today, just me and me dawg in the rain...looking forward to it already!!!