Adam's Crossfit Blog

hip is getting better!

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:44:00 +0000

Met with Bobby yesterday, and he had some pretty awesome news

1. The pectineus did not feel damaged. It’s a stabilizer that is being made super tight, like the psoas was, to protect the hip joint. I think I’ve always felt pain there, there have been occasions when I thought there was something wrong with a hip adductor. I just didn’t really pay attention to it because my psoas was stealing the show being insanely tight. Which leads me to my next point…
2. My psoas was tight, but nothing like what it was three weeks ago. When he worked on the muscle it didn’t put up a fight, it released fairly easily. This is fantastic news, progress is being made!

I see Dr. Hauser this Monday for another treatment, and I have to say I’m super excited. I never thought I’d look forward to having 60cc of sodium morrhuate injected into my hip through 60 injections at once, but that is the case. The pain is temporary, which is way better then experiencing pain ALL THE TIME.

The next step is my shoulder. I still have a lot of tightness in my scalenes that I work on constantly. Bobby worked on them and there were a good ten or so knots in my neck that he had to work through. On the ride home I felt more comfortable than I had in a long, long time. My neck and tricep muscles are tightening up in order to protect my shoulder joint (specifically the Acromioclavicular joint, otherwise known as the AC joint). I believe what is wrong with my shoulder joint is that rotator cuff injury I had four years ago when I just started crossfit, combined with sleeping on my side for years, which may have caused some weakness and laxity.

How am I guessing this? Back in June last year Bobby figured out that it was sleeping on my side that was causing all of my shoulder pain. So I already know that sleeping on my side helped cause this situation and I have an injury to my supraspinatus. Then I read this paragraph on Dr. Hauser’s website (excerpt from here):

The supraspinatus tendon often refers pain to the back of the shoulder. Sleeping on the shoulder causes a pinching of the rotator cuff muscles and can lead to rotator cuff weakness. There are cases where the cause of the rotator cuff tendon laxity was due to years of sleeping on the shoulder.

…This is exactly my situation, and Dr. Hauser seems to be once again promising a cure. I told myself that I would wait until after prolotherapy proves to cure my hip to start working on my shoulder, but now that I’m seeing results I’m itching to end this shoulder pain as well.

Getting into wedding shape.

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:42:00 +0000

I just recently turned 32, and to celebrate my fiancee surprised me
with a trip to NYC to meet up with my best friend and cousin who live
there.  The whole time we walked through SoHo and other neighborhoods,
and the whole time I didn't feel any pain in my hip.  It was awesome,
I didn't even notice I wasn't in pain until late Sunday.  I've also
noticed that little movements that used to make my hip click no longer
do so.  Perhaps the labrum is healing so the tear is smaller allowing
greater range of motion?  If so that is completely awesome.
 
When I make a full recovery, I am going to celebrate by going to NYC
and staying a week with Allan (my best friend).  During my stay I
learned that he wants to lose some fat in time for my wedding so he'll
look good in pictures (he's my best man).  He lives very close to
Crossfit Virtuosity, a box that I have mucho respect for.  The idea is
that during that week I'm there we will work out together at crossfit
virtuosity.  Allan is having a tough time breaking the seal and going
to a gym, so the idea is I'll help break through that inertia of
sitting still and get him back on track.  There are a couple of
logistical issues I have because I imagine the ramp up with Crossfit
virtuosity is slow and my be only three times a week or even less.
However, I'll email the owner as the date approaches and we'll figure
something out to try to make the most of my visit.
 
This is all exciting news, really am hoping I'll be pain free in like
2 months or less.

Complication with the Pectineus??

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:39:00 +0000

Saw the Chiropractor the other day.  I haven't seen her for a while
because I am already spending so much money on the prolotherpy, but my
back was killing me for a couple of days so I figured I should see
her.  Another reason I haven't been seeing Dr. Mary, is because Dr.
Hauser said that I can't have the chiro manipulate the hip (would
increase the instability of the joint).  However, Dr. Mary uses the non-force technique

which doesn't cause any cracking or anything.
 
When I saw her she first noticed that my pelvis was twisted.  This
doesn't really surprise me since my hip was so locked up after the
first treatment I wasn't walking very symmetrically for quite a while.
 I decided to let her fix that since 1) it was really causing some
occasionally debilitating pain and 2) the DNFT system is so freaking
light I can't imagine it making the joint unstable.  She also noticed
that there was something off with my pectineus.  This is interesting

because it feels like exactly where I'm experiencing some
of the pain since I pulled my groin back in August.  Perhaps there is
still some lingering issue with this muscle, this could be where I
hurt myself and thought it was a sports hernia.  I am going to see
Bobby the massage therapist Thursday and I will make sure to ask him
to see if there is anything off with it.  Of course the
pain/discomfort in the pectinieus could be from the prolotherapy.

This issue is so darn complicated it could be anything, so I need to
figure out what it could be and then through process of elimination
figure out what it's not.  So my next step is to figure out how to
tell if the pectineus is damaged.  Hopefully Bobby will be able to
tell, and if not, well, I guess I might need to see the Orthopod
again.

The Waiting Game

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:25:00 +0000

I know I haven't been posting much, but to be honest there hasn't been much to post. I've just been waiting, trying to not irritate the hip, trying not to flex my hip or do anything with external rotation. Still, I do feel pain in my hip; but it doesn't feel like the same type of pain. But it's unsettling, trying to just wait. Different scenarios keep popping into my head:

Prolotherapy heals the labrum and my psoas doesn't have to be tight and I'm no longer in pain, get to do anything and everything. Dream come true, really. But honestly I'm just not ready to accept this as a real possibility. It's just so foreign and so.... too good to be true. I am afraid of getting my hopes up on this one.
Prolotherapy with sodium morrhuate isn't enough, but using PRP injections work and fix everything. If this happens I'll be a little pissed we did two sessions of just sodium morrhaute, feel like we just wasted 2 months.
Prolotherapy doesn't work at all, and I have to get surgery, but after that I'm set. I really doubt surgery is the answer, but if it's all I have left then I gotta try it.
Prolotherapy heals the labrum but I'm still in pain. ...This would probably be the worst scenario because then we go back to the mystery of why my psoas is so tight. Perhaps I did something else during the lifting competition. This idea scares me the most, not knowing.
Absolute worst case is I get surgery and it doesn't help with the pain. That would be a disaster.

I really hope that I get scenario 1 or 2, with the end result of no more hip pain. I've lived with it for so long though, it's really hard to imagine.

My pain still feels like it's in the psoas, but I also feel some pain when I squeeze my heels together. This feel more like the pain associated with the pulled groin. This makes me nervous in that maybe there is something new going on down there. When I saw Bobby about a month ago he found a lot of knots right above the pubic bone, and the referall pain I experienced when he worked on them felt a lot like this new pain. I saw Bobby last week and this time he didn't find anything like that (although the psoas was still tight).

This has just been a never-ending puzzle, but I'm not going to give up until I've figured out everything. I am not going to let this beat me, I am going to beat it.

FAI/labrum tear does not have to equal surgery!

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:58:00 +0000

So I just got a question from a follower from Denmark asking how I'm coping post surgery. Maybe there's a bit of a language barrier, but maybe not and I haven't been that clear.

So let me clarify the record.

Two years ago I was diagnosed with FAI (cam and pincer type) and was told I may have a small tear in my labrum as well.

Incidentally I learned I had tight hip capsules.

I started seeing a massage therapist on a regular basis to release the hip muscles, and it starts to render me pain free.

Fast forward to August last year and I seemed to make the hip worse in an Olympic lifting competition.

I go get another MRI to see what's going on. In the report it comments that my femur heads are nice an smooth, nowhere does it mention that there is an impingement. It seems that my impingement has gone away.

I still have a laberal tear though (which seems to be the root cause of the pain), so I start seeing a Dr Hauser, a prolotherpist, and I seem to be progressing nicely.

Nowhere in there did I get surgery. For me, surgery is not the answer for a hip impingement. An impingement is the result of poor mobility, if you fix the impingement it will just come back because you still have the mobility issues. Moreover, even if the surgery fixes the underlying issues it may not leave you pain free. I'm willing to bet good money that the large majority of people who have pain and impingenement actually have muscular pain and not joint pain. If you fix the impingement, the muscles are still going to be too tight. After months or years of learning how to be tight (and painful), the muscle is going to take a lot of attention to make it release and stop hurting. If you go online and read people's blogs who just have the surgery, it just doesn't seem to work. Even if you have multiple surgeries (like five of them). Surgery is at best an incomplete solution.

First fix the mobility issue, the body will take care of the extra bone growth on its own (mine did). If you already have a tear in the labrum, then try prolotherpy before surgery. Prolo seems to be largely dependent on the skill of the administrator. For example, the "expert" in Alexandria said he couldn't help me, but lo and behold I'm getting help from Dr. Hauser and it seems to be working.

My point with all of this is surgery is not the only answer. Orthopods think it's the only answer because that's all they know. They don't know anything about massage therapy or PRP treatments or anything else. They just do surgery, and that's it. So if you ask an Orthopedic surgeon for help of course all they are going to reccomend is surgery. But there are other ways, I'm a prime example.

Post second treatment report

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:34:00 +0000

As LMFAO song goes,
"Shots shots shots shots shots shots"

Ok so I saw Dr. Hauser again and he felt that the labrum was coming along nicely, so we stayed with the sodium morrhuate solution. I'll admit I wanted to try PRP, you know, the good stuff, but if this is working then I shouldn't complain, especially since the treatments costs go up from $300 to $600.

My hip did not feel as nearly as affected this time as it did last time. I did not have any problems walking up stairs with either leg whereas last time my hip was locked up so I only used my left leg for a couple of days. I definitely seem to be more mobile than last time.

At first this had me concerned. Is the treatment not as effective? Did I do something wrong? I've been dydrated from food poisoning so did my body just soak up all that extra solution? "Oh no this isn't going to work and I'll have to have surgery!"

Then I calmed down a bit and realized maybe it's because my hip has gotten better so it can handle it better. I'm going to email the doc's office and find out what they have to say.

I was hoping for more answers, but it seems like I will just have to stay the course and be patient.

Ready for my check-up

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:33:00 +0000

Well, leaving for Dr. Hauser's office in a bit. I'm not worried like last time now that I know what to expect. Now I'm just hoping that he sees signs of improvement, and if not then I guess we'll step it up to PRP injections. Either way, I'm excited. I really hope this does heal my labrum, it would be fantastic.

"can't put your hip in a sling"

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:49:00 +0000

So with this prolotherapy I'm supposed to keep my hip from cracking or clicking. Problem is, I use my hip all the time. I've figured out a way to get out of bed that greatly reduces my chance of a click, but if I raise my knee to my chest just a little too much I get to hear a "click". ...I've also figured out ways to put on my pants and shoes that do not involve flexion of the hip, but there are still times when I accidentally raise my foot just a little too much. Hell, now I even go up the stairs by only stepping up with my left leg and then bringing my right to meet it.

Even with all these precautions, I'm afraid that I've done too much to really allow the hip to heal. However, the clicks do feel less... substantial(?) then before the treatment. So I'll take that as good news.

I'm going to see Dr. Hauser this Friday for another treatment and check-up. I no longer have the nervousness since I know what to expect, am just excited to get closer to having a completely healed labrum. Let's hope this all works.

2011: Year in review

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:25:00 +0000

So it's the first day of 2012, and I thought it would be appropriate to look back as the past year. There were a lot of changes, but let's look at what happened.

In January, I competed for the superfit competition and got 66th out of 73. Def not the best, but i really enjoyed the time spent with the other CFOTers, will always remember wandering around in the cold looking for a place to eat that was open (I was introduced to "Hungry Harold", who is a rather impatient person). I was introduced to bourbon barrel beer (heaven in a glass!)

In February there was a crossfit-life changing experience, where I started to see that crossfit may not be the end all be all I thought it was. Where I started to realize that if I wanted to lift heavier with the squat, deadlift, and press then I needed to work on those with a program that used periodization, not muscle confusion. You got to change it up to break through plateaus, but there are programs that can produce linear results (for a while) that will lead to stronger lifts then what I could do after 3 years of xfitting. This is also where I started to see the dangers in some exercises, like the kipping pull up.

April was also a big month. I was on the paleo diet in earnest and was starting to reach my dream in terms of physique, and I moved from Alexandria to Barrington, leaving my crossfit home/family Crossfit Oldtown. That was a really tough move, I knew CFOT was irreplaceable and was going to miss everyone.

May was when I met Bobby for the first time, dude is amazing and led to me figuring out all kinds of things that have been going on with my body. I now sleep on my back. That's a huge deal and has really helped with my shoulder pain.

I also join the oly lifting program at Crossfit Rise, and am hooked. I realize that I've been lifting with my back, not my legs, and this is a huge step to lifting heavy and safely. I train for a competition and it is awesome and eye-opening. Mostly I realize how I only need to lift heavy with like 5 reps, and not have to do many reps of such complicated lifts.

At the end of August I competed, and it was an awesome experience, the adrenaline rush was awesome. I really felt like I accomplished something. Unfortunately, I also injured myself in the process, pulling my groin and doing something else in the process.

The remainder of the year I've been doing pilates, swimming and rehab on my pulled groin. The groin gets better, but there is still a lot of pain. I figure out it's my psoas again, and it's tight because it is trying to protect some soft tissue damage. That, in turn, has led to prolotherapy.

This past year has been pretty amazing, but it's hard to imagine I've been injured for like four months now as I try to figure out what is going on in my hip.

...Post massage part two

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:38:00 +0000

...I've also realised that after the massage I did not feel the psoas tighten up immediately after getting off the table. So that instability that causes the psoas to tighten has been reduced. As I sit here typing this my hip pain is gone. However, I'm not doing cartwheels yet because Dr. Hauser said that the swelling from the treatment will last about two weeks, and the swelling will provide some stability. So in order to see if there is any real improvement I will have to wait another two weeks. Again, time will tell.

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:58:00 +0000

Ok well that was interesting. While Bobby was working on my hip he commented that "there is definitely a party going on in there". However, things did seem to release a little faster than normal, there were just more things needing release. When he worked on my glute he commented that it released way faster than normal, probably because I'm now sleeping with my knee up rather than letting it fall to the side (which would open up my hip). He also worked on my abs, and that was extremely painful, and I think it was related to the injury back in August. ...I feel different, and kind of wrung out, but I think this was a good thing.

Again, time will tell.

Almost a week now

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:24:00 +0000

It's been six days since I had my first treatment, and the hip is starting to feel much more normal, which is nice, but it also has me worried that nothing has changed. It still feels... different, but I can tell that my psoas is still really tight. However, a tight psoas doesn't really mean that much because it was tight before the treatment, and there's not much reason why it still shouldn't be tight.

I guess I'm concerned that all the cracking and clicking my hip has done means that whatever help the treatment provided as been has been undone or greatly lessened. Dr. Hauser said I should not manipulate the hip, and to avoid doing anything that makes it click. Well, you can't put your hip in a sling, and every crack and click has been the result of doing something exceedingly normal, like walking around a corner or putting on my pants. I use my hip all the time, it's something I can't avoid. I just hope progress is being made.

I am about to go see Bobby for some work on the psoas, I'm looking forward to getting some feedback from him, as well as the hope that my psoas won't tighten up immediately after getting up off the table. This should be very interesting...

Will have the update later today.

Day three: Update

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:58:00 +0000

First of all a Merry Chrsitmas to everyone! This has been a wonderful year for me, and I hope it has been for you as well.

The stiffness in my hip is pretty much gone, I'm now walking without any gimp. It seems like dancing will be an option, so that's really, really good news. I was told that I need to let the labrum heal (duh) so I can't let it click. That clicking is the labrum tear opening and closing, so obviously if I keep doing that it won't be able to knit together and heal.

In order to prevent any clicking, I basically can't let leg do more than 20 degrees flexion. First day it wasn't a problem, mostly because I was asleep for the whole day. But yesterday I accidentally raised my leg up just a little too high and it made this really loud thunk. It also happened again doing something else, can't remember what but it was very casual.

The hip also popped twice, again just me walking around. I think it might have to do with the swelling around the joint, I don't know.

But back to the clicking. Today it clicked when I got out of bed, and the thing is I know it tends to do that so I figured out a way that doesn't click. Yet I moved my knee just a little too high and "Thunk". I then tried to put on my pajama pants, I raised my leg to step in to them and felt the pinch that precedes the click. Stuck, I tried to slowly lower my leg so that it wouldn't click. "Thunk". Both of those were so loud that Kristin could hear them.

I'm nervous about undoing the healing that is trying to take place, but hopefully these four clicks don't do too much, and am able to keep this from happening again.

First Prolotherapy session finished

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 08:54:00 +0000

Nervous as hell, I showed up to the doc's office at 8:45, 15 minutes ahead of time. I had already taken my vicodin and xanax, and I was starting to feel a little woozy. Still lucid, I filled out some sheets and then was taken to a room. They had me gown up and applied a topical novacaine ointment to my hip/thigh area. After waiting a while for the drugs to set in Dr. Hauser showed up. I was handed two squeeze balls laid on my back, and he got to work. I could feel some of the pricks of the needle, but just barely. Then he had me lay on my side and started going at it from there. I don't think the numbing agent had been applied there because I could definitely feel that more, but I just focus on something else, like those stress balls.

But then it was over. It probably took like 2 minutes, max. Apparently he gave me 60 injections, but I could have sworn it was like 15 at most. My hip definitely felt some swelling, but it was discomfort and not pain. They put a heat pack on me and let me just lay there for a while. Eventually I got up and dressed. I was pretty tired and I think the drugs were making me woozy, so shortly after Kristin started driving me home I passed out. When we got home I laid down on the bed and then slept for six hours.

My hip definitely feels different, it feels swollen and like I'm stretching my glute or something. There's not really any pain though, and the pain from the psoas being too tight doesn't seem to exist right now. I don't know if it from the drugs or the swelling has allowed the muscle to relax. I don't know. All I know is that I now have to be very careful with what I do, to make sure I don't make my hip click. If I do, I'm preventing my labrum from knitting together, and that is the last thing I want to do. It will be tricky, all those little habits like crossing my legs will be tough to not do, but this is definitely worth it.

If I can beat all of this without surgery, I am going to be a very happy man. The thing that I like most about this prolotherapy is that although I can't really exercise like squats or Pilates, I can walk around and be independent. This is not like what I would experience if I had surgery, where I would be on crutches and my body would be recovering from the stress of putting my hip in traction. Surgery really should be an option of last resort, and if this works I am going to be very, very, happy.

It's been such a long journey

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:32:00 +0000

If this really does work, and in six weeks time I'm pain free, or at least a heck of a lot better, I know there will be a part of me that will regret not getting this sooner. But then I have to remind myself that I did try to get this done, over two years ago when I met with Dr. Wagner who was a supposed "expert". And then I get angry. The man just looks at an MRI and figures if he doesn't see it then it can't possibly be there. I mean, who cares that my hip still clicks even though everything is in alignment. Who cares that you can feel the joint move around. Who cares that another doctor diagnosed a torn labrum without an MRI. Because it certainly wasn't Dr. Wagner. He just looked at a picture and figured he couldn't do anything to help me, and I couldn't do anything, literally (except for swimming and yoga). If he would actually look at the whole patient, then maybe I would already be fine. Maybe I wouldn't have to worry about fixing my hip versus getting ready for our first dance at our wedding.

But then I think about it a little more, and if Dr. Wagner had treated the labrum, I wouldn't have discovered I have tight hip capsules, which in turn led me to massage, which seems to have healed my FAI. If I had repaired the labrum without treating the FAI, that impingement would still be there, and would possibly tear the labrum again. There are people out there who get surgery or PRP treatments and yet still have pain. I think that's because even though the underlying issue (joint instability) is fixed the muscles have become so patternized that they will remain tight even though they don't need to be (being tight is all they know), and it is the tight muscle that is causing the pain.

So, in fact, I just have to accept that this is what the universe has presented to me, and I take solace in the fact that I have kept searching, learning about my hip and what might be the issues at hand. I have not resigned myself to a life of pain and/or inactivity. In life there is always a choice, and I choose to be better today then I was yesterday. Whether that be stronger, faster, smarter, wiser, or some combination of all the above, I try to make the most out of each day because that's a day I'll never get back.

Now if you excuse me, I need to get back to taking on the day.

Getting excited for the treatment

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:39:00 +0000

As painful as this is going to be, I am starting to get excited about this. I feel even better about trying this before getting surgery, because I've realised that if this works I will have a healed up labrum. Not a labrum that's been stitched together, or one that has had peices removed, but a healed labrum that is whole and working as it should be. And as one article points out, when you have surgery to remove peices, you're probably not really helping with anything.

Also, I think my psoas an illium are so tight because of looseness in my hip. That could be directly caused by my torn labrum, but perhaps not. If not, then this prolotherapy should help with that instability and allow my muscles to relax. This could be a really good thing!

Has my FAI gone away???

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:16:00 +0000

The fact that Dr. Hauser couldn't detect any impingement has really got me thinking, is it actually gone? I really need to check with the results from the MRI I had a couple of months ago to see if my cam and pincer impingements are gone. If this is the case, then I'm proof positive of the importance of mobility work. I always wondered if the extra bone growth would go away on its own. I mean, it's no longer needed because the femur is no longer banging into the hip socket, so it could go away. On the other hand, it would seem odd that the extra bone would realize it's no longer needed and would go away.

...I will call the doctor's office later today and see if they could help me out on this one, since I don't have the images for myself.

Met with Dr. Hauser

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:25:00 +0000

The meeting was... interesting, to say the least. He did a few, quick tests and felt that I really didn't have an impingement of the hip (this would kind of make sense since I've been working on my stretching my hip capsules for almost two years to the day now.), but he definitely felt some instability in the hip joint as well as that laberal tear. This is almost completely opposite of what the PRP Dr Wager diagnosed like two years ago (no laberal tear, but FAI). Perhaps all the stretching and stuff has made the impingement a non-issue, that would definitely be ideal as well as the hope of getting all those massages.

He told me that he felt he could help, and if I wanted to he could do a procedure in like 30 minutes. ...He gave me the option of taking some painkillers before the procedure, as I will get poked by a needle 30+ times. That is a ridiculous amount of needle, so I felt I would be best served by some vicodin. However, I have a lot of work to do, and I can't really afford to take today off so instead I scheduled an appointemnt for the 23rd.

There is one thing that really, really bummed me out though, and that's the recovery. One of the main reasons why I wanted to try prolotherapy before surgery was because of the recovery. In the clip of Dr. Hauser getting an injection of stem cells (the stem cells come from the marrow in his own tibia) for treating his knee he talks about how he was running three days later. Well, appearently with a labral tear I would have to be inactive to let the labrum knit together. I can swim and walk,but anything that causes my hip to snap would be bad (so no more than 20 degree movement), and I wouldn't be able to do any external rotation as well. ...That last part may mean I might have to hold off on dance lessons (have been learning how to dance with Kristin in preperation for our wedding).

It's that last part that kills me. I've really been enjoying dancing with Kristin, and that I would have to hold off on dancing for like eight weeks is sad news. The recovery time for prolo is almost the same as surgery, so it makes the idea of prolo less appealing. However, I know that surgery is not always the answer, in various forums there are people who are months post-op and are still expereincing pain just walking.

So I think I've decided to try at least one prolo treatment, but I swear I'm not as near as excited about this as I was when I thought I could immediately get back into squatting and stuff.

I will keep posting about this, as well as some other things. I apologize for the lack of posts, but since I've become more inactive there hasn't been too much to write about.

Happy belated Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:05:00 +0000

Went back home to dallas for the holidays, and I couldn't play tag with my neices and nephews because I couldn't run without pain.

I cannot wait for this pain to end.

I meet with the prolotherapist on the 12th, here's to hoping that he will actually be able to help me out.

Another possible diagnosis, and possible PRP treatment

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:25:00 +0000

So I've kept researching what could be causing this pain, and there is a very similar injury to Athletic pubalgia (aka sports hernia), and that is an injury to the pubic symphysis. The pubic symphysis is a cartilige joint, and it has some ligaments keeping it in place, and according to wikipedia:

Two such ligaments are the superior and inferior, these being the ligaments that provide the most stability... The strong and thicker superior ligament is reinforced by the tendons of the rectus abdominis... and thigh adductors muscles.

So I'm thinking when I pulled my groin (aka thigh adductor) I might have aslo damaged the ligament up in there as well. It definitely feels like a precise pain in the pubic area, so this is a possibility, although it could be "just" a sports hernia. If it is damage to superior ligament in the pubic symphysis then prolotherapy should prove to be really helpful. If it's a sports hernia then perhaps not so much. Either way, I think Dr. Hauser will be able to figure out if it is either.

Even though I have been very inactive this past two weeks, when I saw my massage therapist my psoas was once again "insanely tight". We talked about why this could be when I've rested for the past two weeks and the only conclusion we could come up with is that there must be some type of soft tissue damage that the psoas is compensating for.

I feel like I am so God Damn close to figuring out this hip pain once and for all that I'm experiencing all kinds of emotions. I've been dealing with my hip for years now, and the idea that I could finally figure the underlying reason for pain is honestly an idea that I'm a little scared to believe. I want to hope for this, but I've been burned already and it makes me hesitant. But it makes sense that I have some type of soft tissue damage in my hip, and that this is why I still experience hip pain.

If there is damage to the Pubic symphysis I am not going to look forward to the prolotherapy treatment, I've seen this video of the treatment and the idea of getting like 7 injections right above my junk is not my idea of a good time. However, this should tell you how much I'm ready for this pain to be gone.

I'm hoping the symphysis is the only issue, but if there is something else going on I surely hope Dr. Hauser can figure it out.

Def seems to be a Sports hernia

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:48:00 +0000

Ok so the more I look up stuff on sports hernias the more I am convinced that I have one. Sports hernias are different than regular hernias. In fact, they are very different injuries. A sports hernia is tissue (including muscle) ripped off the pubic bone. While I have tried to be conservative with my activity, I still find myself pushing through the pain to get the exercise done. I've been doing some crossfit, subbing out exercises that hurt for ones that don't (rowing instead of running, etc). Thing is, seems like there are more and more exercises that are starting to hurt so I'm going to take some time off and just do swimming (if I can) or something while I figure this out. I did start to feel better when I rested it, so back to rest I go.

As weird as this sounds, I think this could be a blessing. To be honest I'm starting to think I may have had a sports hernia to begin with. I figured out the pain in my hip was from too tight muscles, which caused the FAI and torn labrum. So once I got my hips to loosen up, the pain abated to a level that I could easily handle doing anything (scale of 1 to 10, 2 at most). Thing is, my psoas kept tightening up causing pain so I keep having to go to get a massage. Both my massage therapist and I are a little confused as to wonder why my psoas keeps tightening up. I had figured out one level of why I had hip pain (tight muscles) but couldn't figure out the underlying reason why certain muscles were tightening up so much and so quickly. ...A sports hernia could be the reason, a little muscle tear around the pubic bone could definitely cause contraction/tightening in the psoas. And when I competed in the Oly lift competition and C+J'd 220 (when I also pulled my groin) I might have exacerbated the problem, causing more damage. So perhaps this is a good thing, perhaps I will have finally figured out the underlying cause for my hip pain and be able to address it and move forward.

I plan on seeing a prolotherapist here in Chicago (Dr. Hauser), one who seems to have a good reputation from the reviews I've found so far (he also has a lot of youtube clips out there). He claims that prolotherapy can help with torn labrums and sports hernias, and his website talking about why it works seems legit, so I think I'll give it a go, although I'm skeptical. If that doesn't work, then I will probably have to have surgery. It's damage to soft tissue, so as far as I understand it that type of injury doesn't repair itself. I just may need an outpatient procedure where they get me with one or two staples and I'll be 100% in like a month. Thing is, the staples have to be in the right place and so it will require a doctor that knows what he's doing, and I have yet to find a specialist.

One of the owners of crossfit rise had a sports hernia, and he elected not to have surgery, but it took him a year to recover. So I'm really not sure what to do, although I don't really think I have the patience to wait it out for a year.

Really hope I can beat this thing.

Done with PT, Half Angie

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:06:00 +0000

Saw that at CFR they were doing a half Angie, witch is 50 pull ups, push ups, situps, and then squats. being bodyweight movements I figured it was a good idea to go for it. And it worked out allright. My endurance really has gone down the tubes, the pull ups and push ups took a really long time, I actually finished this WOD after everyone else. That didn't really bother me, push ups are still a problem for me, but what did bother me was my mechanics in the squat.

This whole injury/rehab process really has brought attention to the asymetry in strength in my right and left legs. I think the weakness in my right leg, namely my adductors, where what caused the injury. In pilates, when I really focus on extending my right leg in certain movements, I can really feel how certain muscles want to take over but weaker muscles are starting to fight back and take on the work that they're supposed to.

Anyway, back to the squat. Near the end when I was starting to fatigue I could really start to feel how wobbly my right knee is. Actually, I think it is a lot wobblier now that it used to be because my groin is stronger and is now starting to fight instead of just not firing at all. This problem in mysquat mechanic really could be the reason why my right hip has has so much pain.

I've spent so much time working on pushing knees out when squatting that I never thought the ability to keep my knees in to be an issue. Now I know better.

It's been six weeks of PT, and I had my last session on Wednesday. The therapist said that my groin is now much stronger, and all the exercises I did really did get easier as the weeks went by, but I should still keep up with the pilates. This I already know, it's funny I could lift 220 pounds over my head but I can't go through a pilates class without taking like 45 breaks, and they're only using bodyweight. All this work on power has left me with little work on endurance.

I still can't run without pain, although this pain seems to be more where my psoas is than the groin. Still working on it, not really sure what to do. A lot of things kind of hurt, but only a few things really hurt, if that makes sense. I do a lot of self massage with the lacrosse ball, and that seems to help with the referral pain. The fact that it is referral pain tells me that this is probably muscular and not a hernia. Yay for silver linings.

MRI results

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:02:00 +0000

Ok well had the MRI and it shows some thickening (a sighn of inflamation) of one of the tendons in my right hip. This does not disprove the idea that I have a hernia, but the doc thougth that the inflamation from having that tendon snap over other muscles and bone. The doc described it as rubbing sandpaper on the tendon, so it's inflamed and probably why it hurts.

I have mixed feelings about this, it sounds a lot like the situation back in July '09 where Dr. Craddock said nothing should be clicking because all the muscles are in correct alignment. If everything is in the right place, then the muscle shouldn't snap over anything because there's a clear path, if that makes sense. Yet, there was still clicking, and this is what led me down the path of figuring out I have FAI and a torn labrum in my right hip. ...I'm left a little puzzled, not sure what exactly to do. This ortho here perscribed some PT, so I'm thinking about doing that and seeing how that works. The pysical therapy on my groin is getting better, but it is still showing signs of weakness on the right side. I need to fix this asymetry, I feel like it might be a source for all of my problems.

....The MRI still does not rule out a hernia, but it seems to be getting better (it's tough to tell because that air force wod really set me back) so if it is in fact getting better then it's def not a hernia. I'm seeing Bobby this Thursday so we'll see if that will help with the recovery process as well.

injury mystery deepens

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 03:40:00 +0000

Ok so it's been like a month of rehabing the groin and despite that setback last week I'd say the actual hip adductor is 75% back. However, there is still this hip pain that's right where the psoas is. It doesn't hurt to do a sit up, but it does hurt to hold me feet a few inches above ground, or to hold a plank.

Saw the Doc again, and there are a couple things it could be, all of which are hard to tell because of the location of the pain. It could be a sports hernia, it could be a ligament sprain, or maybe a muscle sprain. To figure this out, I'm getting an MRI on Monday. Yay. I figure it's worth the $30 to add another piece to the puzzle (yay for gov benefits).

Really hope it's not a sports hernia, but even if it is it beats not knowing.

I've been doing some light lifting to shake the rust off, and boy is there some rust. Good news is that afterwards I did not feel like I was worse off than before, and that was my main goal. ...I see that I'm now doing a butt wink when I squat, I think I've lost some of the flexibility, and also my body just might not remember how it's done.

I have not been exercising like I'm used to, and I feel lazy. I have to stay active, and though I'm doing PT and pilates for a total of 5 times a week, it's just not enough, I need to go to crossfit or something.

Three steps forward...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:32:00 +0000

So everything was going well and I decided to push my body a little harder on Monday, where I did the Airforce Wod for the first time. I figured I would scale the weight and see how it went. Turns out that was a bad idea. I didn't feel anything during, but afterwards my hip area was SORE! This worried me in that I thought maybe I do have a hernia. Things were suddenly worse, I couldn't do movements that I could do last week without pain.

I have been doing pilates three times a week, and while that's helped me work on my abs I am also finding out how weak all of my stabilizers are. In physical therapy I'm finding a pretty big asymmetry in strength, my right side being my weaker side. Perhaps this asymmetry is what is causing my hip pain. Regardless, pilates seems to be exactly what I need to work on to fix this.

Thankfully I was able to see my massage therapist again, and it seems my psoas was rock hard, again. Bobby spent about 45 min just working that one muscle and the pain I felt from the pressure felt a lot like the pain I experienced when trying to keep a hollow body or hold a plank position. So I don't think I have a hernia, but I do think I've done something to my psoas, maybe a strain? I don't know. All I know is that I feel better after the massage, but I'm still in quite a bit of pain. I am going to try to do a lot of self-massage and see how that works.

...Again apologies for not having a lot of posts lately, but I should have some good links posted tomorrow.