Don't Count Me Out Just Yet.......

I know it has been a while since I posted but I am posting with good news.....hopefully!

Let me start from the beginning.  Thru a trail of emails it was brought to my attention that one of my vendors from work was a runner.  A REAL runner.  She has run 21 marathons and 10 half's.  She is also a Certified Running Coach and is co-owner of her own running training company.  She is living my dream!

Well after discovering this we started chatting.  We both love to talk about running and now we have someone we can talk to without getting the blank "I don't care" stares.  I quickly let her know about my blog.

Within a few minutes of reading the blog she emailed me back and said, "can I offer a suggestion for your injury?"  Are you kidding me....yes please do.....I will try anything at this point.

Here is a quote from that email:

"Let me lay it out like this first:   Since July of 2009, I battled injury after injury.  It all started with a stress fracture on my right foot. As that healed, I was determine to run my marathons I had signed up for (Houston & Austin).  After dealing with the stress fracture (wearing a boot for 8 weeks!), I developed a neuroma (pinched nerve) on that same foot under my toes.  Got my cortisone shot and ran the Houston marathon!  During the race, I started having severe pain in the left foot (heel area).  It was discovered afterward that I had plantar fasciitis and a possible heel spur on my left foot!!!  Anyway, a few weeks later, I ended up breaking my big toe on the same foot…it bent out to the right and broke the sesamoid bone.  Back in a boot and not able to run.  I did electromyopulse therapy, cortisone shots and all kinds of other therapy on it and nothing seemed to work.  So, I broke down and went to an airrosti therapist for treatment.  My friend had told me about it, but I kept resisting that “hokey” stuff! :)  He determined that I actually had Achilles tendonitis that was pulling on my heel making it hurt so bad.  You probably won’t believe this, but I went into his office in a boot and came out in a running shoe and ran the next day. It took three treatments and it “went” away."

I was beaming from ear to ear, if she had done this and it worked for her, maybe it will work for me.  I had HOPE again!

That night I went home and spent 1 1/2 hours researching Airrosti.  It seemed too good to be true and why hadn't any of the other doctor's I had been to mentioned it?  I could not find one bad thing mentioned about Airrosti.  In fact every single person who tried it said it worked.  I even had mom research it and she couldn't find anything bad as well.  Ok now you got me. Although all of the reports did say it hurt like hell, I really don't care at this point, as long as it means I can run again.

So I called and made an appt for the next day.  I am having to pay out of my pocket, they do accept insurance but mine is out of network and cheaper for me to pay out of pocket.  But they offer a payment plan and I don't have to start paying on that until mid-March.  It isn't really that expensive, I am just broke. :)

I was so nervous going into that session.  How much was this going to hurt?  Can I take it?  After about a 15 minute consultation with the doctor we got to "work".  He was very upfront and said, "yes, this is going to hurt."  ok, but for how long?  I am thinking 30-45 minutes, when he said 15-20 I was elated.  This part of the treatment is a very deep tissue "massage" using the thumbs to loosen up the fascia around the muscle.  He explained that every muscle has fascia around it and when our muscles are injured or tighten up the fascia likes to "hug" the muscle.  Since the fascia doesn't have any sort of blood supply to it, once the muscle loosens up or heals the fascia doesn't know to "let go."  So they go in and smooth it out and loosen it up.  It isn't very pleasant but he did a good job of trying to distract me while he was doing it.  He also went ahead and did both legs, not just the injured one AND did my shins!  That was by far the worse pain, although it was discovered I have shin splints and now I can get those fixed for the price of one. :)

After the massage you meet with another person who shows you how to use a foam roller and the importance of it.  Luckily I already have one of these but didn't really use it properly.  She showed me how to roll out my calves and shins.  Afterwards they put kinesio tape on you, 4 colors to choose from (black, nude, hot pink and turquoise), to promote blood flow to the area, decreasing inflammation and swelling.  I choose black the first time. :)

I quickly asked if I could go to spin class that night, after the treatment, I am training for that indoor tri in March.  He said, sure go for it.  In fact we want you to be active, it will promote the healing process.  Heck yeah.....I like this type of thinking.  Then he said, and I want you to run tomorrow, up to 3 miles.  Even better!  Also, put ice on it twice a day and foam roll twice a day.

Spin class went well.  I actually did better than I have ever done, although I don't think that had to do with the treatment, I was probably just amped up.  But I did get some funny stares from the gym-goers with the black tape on my legs, but whatever.

The next day I was a little sore from the treatment but nothing like I thought it would be.  I went running that afternoon and it felt GREAT!  I forgot how good it felt!  I was on cloud nine.  I only made it 2 1/2 miles b/c it was soooo hot and humid that day and I hadn't run in the humidity in a while.  But I didn't care, that was the longest in about 3 months.  I was so excited I went to my neighbors house and told him, I had to tell someone in person.  I was absolutely stoked for the rest of the day.

My leg felt fine after that, I had a few "twinges" here and there but nothing out of the ordinary and certainly no worse than before.  Went to my second appt (of four) on Monday.  Went thru the same treatment, apparently I am getting used to the pain, it didn't hurt that much.  I think I just know what to expect now.  I then went and learned how to foam roll my quads and IT band as well as the calves and shins.  And then opted for the blue tape.  My daughter told me last time I should get blue since it is my favorite color, why not?  I didn't realize he was going to tape the front of the leg this time, great, the time I pick a bright color.  Needless to say I got LOTS of stares at the gym.  Seriously people, have you never seen kinesio tape before?  My marching orders were to run that night, up to 3 miles, foam roll only once a day and ice twice, and stretch a lot.  No problem.

I ran 3 miles on Monday.  It felt soooooo wonderful, it is hard to put into words.  I was just so excited.  Until yesterday........

I started feeling that "twinge" in my calf yesterday morning and as the day went on it got a little worse, nothing unbearable, just a reminder it is there.  I went ahead and biked for 25 minutes and swam for about 40 yesterday and it didn't bother me during those activities.  Came home, stretched really good and foam rolled everything. Then emailed the doctor to let him know what was going on.  He has suggested I ice today 3-4 times and stretch throughout the day.  I will email him soon so we can decide whether I should run tonight or not.  At this point I am thinking I will, it feels pretty good.  I have my third treatment tomorrow morning.

So I am still hopeful that this treatment is going to work, I will probably lose my mind if it doesn't.  I highly suggest anyone with muscle-related injuries try it out, if you have tried everything.  You can go to http://www.airrosti.com/ to check it out.  If you click on Testimonials you can view a video there of the treatment process.

Wish me luck...... I hope to post in the near future that all is fine and I am running in a race soon. :)