PT is going well for me and my new family (herniated disc’s S1/L5 and L5/L4) highs and lows you know. I am not out of the woods by any stretch, but I am feeling great. No more radicular pain, and back is getting stronger.
The strange thing is it took a big step backwards to really go forward. My PT put me thru the ropes one day, real hard work out. Next day I couldn’t walk! I figured I was done. Pain was now on the other side of back, couldn’t get out of bed etc. She took me in the next day and spent a lot of time trying to get my pelvis aligned. We did traction, the electric “shockey” machine, and lots of pulling my legs and stretching me hard (sounds kinda sexy) and when I left the office…I could walk. NO pain. No longer dragging my right leg behind. It was night and day! For the first time since I have been injured, I have a little hope.
Anyway, I digress.
I am starting next week on 3 runs, just a couple miles each, but it got me thinking. How long does it take to get back to run fitness? I have made gains on the bike and in the pool, but I haven’t run for almost two months. what is a reasonable expectation to return to where I was?
With all seriousness, just listen to your back. It will tell you if you listen. It will be what it will be and there is no answer to be had from this Board. Best.
My wife had a bad groin injury that sidelined her for three months from anything except swimming. Even walking was difficult for awhile… She slowly got back on the bike and water running, but it was a couple of months again before she could even run short slow distance (running was always her strongest event). She finally came back a few months later with PB’s and regular AG wins. She was actually stronger after the injury than before. The key seems to be to get your base on the swim/bike and come back into the run really slowly and gradually build back up.
I broke my patella (hairline) and did some soft tissue damage in spring. Really did it in running the CdA marathon. Couldn’t run at all from June until October. Then I started SLOWLY building up my miles. In December I ran a PB 5k. My highest mileage week so far was 35 and my longest run has been 8.5 miles. For the first month I felt SOOOO out of shape. But then it all came back.
Suffered a stress fracture in my left foot in mid October and chose to obey my doc’s orders to the word: no running until New Year’s. It was frustrating, but had a positive side-effect too – it freed up extra time for swimming and biking. Today is Jan. 20, I’ve been building up my running fitness in small increments for three weeks, and I am very nearly where I was before the injury. The foot has healed nicely, not even a trace of the injury (save for in my memory).
If I were you, I wouldn’t worry too much. Start with water-running, then slowly start taking your running out of the water, and back off if any (however minor) complications show up. Re-injuries take a lot longer to heal, and may lead to chronic problems/irreparable damage. I can’t stress it enough: being conservative is the way to go post-injury.
Comebacks vary depending upon your injury and to a certain degree what type of running background you have. If you were a good natural runner, I suspect the comeback will follow a good course. I had to have some shoulder surgery this past September and they borrowed a piece of hamstring tendon to complete the repair. One thing that I think really helped was aqua-running. It allowed me to “run” much more frequently and earlier than land running. I suspect that getting into the pool would be good for you also since it’s definitely easier on the back.
Thank you all for the thoughts.
I am so glad to be optimistic, that it is keeping me somewhat in check. I don’t want to start again only to have a big set back.
I am still worried about messing around with this for several months just to have to do the surgery anyway.
But I am getting much better in the pool…
Just use your common sense when coming back from injury…no one knows your pain/discomfort level better than you. Think of it as a series of mini test. If you pass one - move on…if not then wait it out. I had knee sergury last January '07 and didn’t run (25 miles total) between September of '06 and Feb of '07. It took a good 5 months to get my form back and I went on to set a HIM PR (overall) and a half marathon PR by 4 minutes…so all hope is not lost. I would focus on the things that you CAN do…if that is swimming/biking…then do those first. Running will come back when your body is ready…and not a minute sooner. I had a hard time putting all my effort into just swimming and biking while not running (I was a runner in my previous life…) but it all worked out in the end. Exercise is exercise IMO - build the engine and the rest will follow.
Everyone recovers differently depending on how well their body heals among other factors. I had a snowboarding crash in late December 2004 that ended up causing me to have a bulging cervical disc. The bulging disc impinged a nerve causing weakness/numbness on my left side. It took more than two months to finally have the correct diagnosis. That was followed by a couple months of PT. I felt like I was back to normal, but every time I ramped up my running I would start getting that numbness/weakness in my left side. So for the next couple years I was not able to run as much as I wanted. This kept me from getting back to where I was. Finally about 6 months ago I hit upon a regimen that is working and I’ve been able to run all the time, allowing me to be very close to where I was and to possibly surpass old levels. That’s the short version - but it’s taken me almost 3 years to recover. I have been able to do most things though - just not at the same level I did before. I finally feel like I’m back now.