The thrill is gone. Injury update.

Week ending 19^th June

Any future running plans are to be put on hold indefinitely for a long time to come as a result of my fall on the 9^th June. I wrote in my last entry I entered the Galway Bay marathon  (a couple of days before I fell).I thought, after the X-Rays ruled out a fracture, I only had a heavy sprain and that it would clear up in a 2 week period. Unfortunately this will not be the case. I am waiting to be called in for a MRI scan to see or confirm if I do have a rotatory cuff injury in my shoulder.This is a muscle tear that limits movement of the upper arm. Lifting, reaching out, side movement are all effected. Either way if this is the case (and it is suspected it is) recovery - be it through physical therapy or orthopedic surgery will take up to 2 – 3 months if not longer. This assumes of course I do get called for that MRI promptly. All these delays between the fall, x rays, MRI and resolution impact on recovery time and I find it all very frustrating . Viva -  the health service!!!!

 Running considerations aside , in terms of more important real life issues like mobility , driving, lifting,  being able to sleep correctly, all these at the moment have proven to be difficult (lifting and sleeping) or impossible (driving- lots of reliance on public transport). At the most I can only lift my arm to chest height, reaching any higher or over is impossible. I also won’t be able to correct the state exams for the summer, so there is a financial impact as well.

Anyway back to running. It’s hard not to consider giving up on the whole idea of taking part any more in races or marathon training. Since 2012 my times in general have either disimproved or remained stagnant. Injuries seem to have become a regular part of running to the point that it becomes expensive or foolish to continue. You have to wonder about continuing in a sport/ hobby that actually takes a toll on your physical well being and ends up costing a small fortune in recovery. All of these makes even less sense when you realise I am at best a mid pack runner. Even in terms of PB’s I haven’t PB’ed a marathon since 2012, a 10k since 2012, a 4 mile ,5 mile or a half marathon since 2013 or a 10 mile race since 2014.

Even on the club scene it’s frightening the amount of people who are getting constantly injured and while many of these injuries are hardly serious they do seem to be very common (PF, slipped kneecap’s, twisted ankle, I.T band and so on). 

I even know of club runners who have dislocated shoulders or under gone major surgery to repair damaged bones or tissue (hip replacements and knee replacements) and have had to take time off work as a result simply because of running. There seems to be too much of a casual acceptance to injury on the club scene for me at the moment to make it attractive any more.

It also seems to follow that once a cycle of injuries start it seems to be a regular issue for participants. In my case I have had at least one injury issue or bodily stress issue every year since 2010 – all running related. This time is probably the most serious as I seemed to trip and fall for no reason, it wasn’t as if there was a outside factor that caused it. My leg just gave way and down I went. It could have happened to me at any time and while it could happen to anyone even non runners  it was a shock. Even the staff in Mallow general said these days the amount of cyclists with broken collarbones and runners with tissue damage or fractures is way on the increase.

A gloomy entry I accept but it’s the way I see it. Once we get things sorted here with the shoulder maybe things will look better in a few months but I can’t see myself hitting the roads for a long time yet.