Going With The Flow

Good luck with the new therapist.

Although I wouldn't dare do this, the naughty little voice in my head always wants to ask a therapist where the deltoid ligament is - it's a good test:)

Or, would they smile if I were to say, I've a stabbing pain in my xiphoid process:)

Hope you've managed to shake off Jake's lurgy.

Good luck with the new guy. Let's hope he can get you running the miles again.

I should really start giving quizzes to the therapists to see if they at least know more than I do about anatomy, biomechanics, etc. And I'm no expert!

That's more of a table than a graph, but your "injury CV" is one of the most impressive (in terms of detail) documents I've ever seen.

Its definitely worth the time to keep track of all this stuff. It'll pay off. Maybe today is that day!

Well, I tried to make it a graph but I don't like the newer Excel for creating graphs so I just left it as a table!

I say you quiz him! Good luck today. Can't wait to hear how it goes :)

Best of luck today Andrea. You are very smart to be tracking your injury so well.

I can't wit to hear the results of today! Good luck :)

Looks like you documented my injury pattern for me. And I'm sure Brandon would agree, since he is following a very similar pattern as well. I am pretty convinced that the pattern is set off by an SI joint dysfunction on the right hand side, just not 100% sure on what is causing that SI joint dysfunction. But when the si is where it is supposed to be almost all of the pain and strains disappear. I feel the same way about trying to find someone who can help out that knows more than I do. The new PT that Brandon turned me on to has a cool technique for releasing the muscle inhibitions that is a very simple yet very effective technique.

He also things that I have muscle movement dysfunctions, which my next door neighbor PT also confirmed. He has had me focusing on separating the use of my transverse abdominis from the other core muscles. He uses an ultra sound so you can watch the muscles contract and see if you are using a better pattern. He fixed my right psoas pain in about 2 minutes.

The adductor pain is part of it. I have been fighting the adductors since at least May. Left and right glute medius, various adductors, but mainly adductor magnus, right TFL, right psoas, right upper hamstring, right calf/achilles tendon and lower lumbar pain, QL issues. The last few weeks I had this very severe cross pelvic pain that would occur anytime I would have to use only one leg at a time, single leg bridge, running, and finally when I was able to get my SI to move the right way, most of the pain immediately went away. The cross pelvic stuff was just so everywhere it didn't feel like it was one particular muscle or anything.

I have a bunch of ways to try to straighten out the si joint, it just goes out so many directions and is hard to tell exactly which way it needs to go back in, it is difficult to try to fix it without messing other things up.

I have found that using an inversion table and doing some sort of v-ups while rocking back and forth from the pelvis seems to pull a lot of the stuff back into place. Then when the sacrum and si's are locked I lay on the floor, pull the knees to the chest, roll onto the back and wedge a foam roller under the sacrum, kind of like a foam roller tail, and catch the top of the sacrum onto the foam roller and kind of slide and pull down while lowering the legs. It kind of grabs the sacrum and tractions it down and loosens up the sacrum and si joints. Doing these usually gets me about 95% there, but if I stand up and flex the sacrum forward and back I can still feel the si joint being stuck in one of the top corners, and if i can't get this unstuck then I know that within a short time it all will fall apart and get stuck again. That last si joint movement is the tricky part, and have had a few moves get it to work, but never one way to make it work everytime.

A Varga sighting! I agree that this pattern is too familiar, although mine had some piriformis in there too :). Andrea i do like Dr. Knudsen a lot. I have been hesitant in my recommendations as i am not as fluent in PT and injury a others. I did feel better about it though because Dan has also had a good experience there. I only wish i would have found him sooner. I feel like i am making progress but i do still have good days and bad. I think if i were to chart my daily workouts and feeling that the trend line would be on the upswing. I sure hope all of us can just get better..... Mine is down to a deep hip flexor and the Glute medius. The medius is the major and the flexor only acts up when the glute is irritated. Back and forth, it changes throughout the day and workout. We are trying to get them balanced but so far they don't want to fully cooperate.

Dan - luckily I haven't developed any SI dysfunction, but it sounds like a bear. It throws off your pelvic stability so much that it never seems to end. Are you able to run still?

Brandon + Dan - Has Dr. K worked with you at all with proper timing of muscle activation? I feel like part of the problem is that certain muscles are overactive while others aren't firing at the right time. I have yet to find a doctor that's really looking at movements, not just static testing.

doctor = therapist

Dan's account is like mine too. I found doing some Muscle Energy Techniques sorted out my SI joint; before sorting the SI joint, things would improve for a day or two and then go back to being painful. After that, everything fell into place after a day or two of stretching and triggers.

I've had a little niggle with the achilles but I think that's more to do with starting back training again and being old, although it might be because my foot's everting to compensate for a weakness in my piriformis.

I'm sure we'll all get there eventually.

Dr. K has done some timing activations but not during full running motion. One thing i really like is that as he activates the muscles he is also helping me with the mental side, concentrating on how the brain is activating the muscle. I leave with practice movements and exercises to do at home to try and keep the muscle from becoming inhibited again. So far its working well. Everything that was inhibited and has been activated has stayed active. For me now i believe its just a matter of balancing them out. Which is the timing problem i think you are talking about. I know it will take some time to get it there, but i do like that the muscles have stayed working.

I have also been seeing a massage therapist at Muscleworks in alpine. She does a great job of working the muscles while running in place or running motions while laying on the table. Her name is Tori. Dan has been seeing her too. When i leave there i leave with no pain, and can run well. But when i wake up then i have regressed. Its going to come together soon i just need to have that breakthrough.

I didn't mention piriformis, only because it hasn't hurt, though it is tight, which is obviously a problem. He is helping me to separate the firing of the muscles in the core currently. He has this giant device called a Huber Motion Lab which is supposed to help with retraining and separating muscle movement patterns, though I could misunderstand its purpose.