Sorry to hear about about your injury. I was recently sidelined with first major injury, a stress fracture of the third metatarsal, for 6+ weeks and started to ease back into it this week (four miles this morning and felt good). I had been running consistently (20-25 mpw) for almost three years without any injuries. It made me realize how much I enjoy and missed running.

I enjoy reading your blog, specially the post on the metatarsal stress fractures. I was hoping you can provide an update to this post or expand on it. My injury happened while transitioning to Newtons. Two months into it, fet great and one day it came out of nowhere, the sharp pain, I could not run anymore. I thought I had done everything right. Obviously, I didn’t. I don’t want to give up on the shoes but have become less of a believer. I have gone back to Saucony and recently got a pair of Kinvara 2s which I really like. I am about to list the Newtons on ebay. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Good luck and get well soon!

Luis

Yes, my kids were a bit frightened by seeing Dad moan!

You say you think it might be your SI joint.  I had excruciating pain in my hip/lower back a couple of years ago.  Could not manage more than 2 or steps without feeling as if someone was driving a nail into my hip or spine.  Rest did not help.  Another runner suggested it might be the piriformis.  

A gifted Physical Therapist diagnosed it as a dislocated SI joint.  (Dislocated so far that it gave me an apparent leg length discrepancy of 15 mm.)  He yanked on one of my legs like he was pulling a stump out of the ground, and amazingly this did not hurt (although it sure surpised me!).  Then he yanked again.  When he measured my legs again, the apparent leg-length discrepancy was gone.  By main force, he had managed to yank my SI joint back into its proper configuration.

Over the next six weeks I went through PT to strengthen certain hip muscles, to ensure that the SI joint would not dislocate again.  That worked beautifully.  No recurrence since then.

I relate this to you because, if YOUR problem is a dislocated SI joint, it can be fixed quickly and dramatically by a good PT.

I wish you a swift and complete recovery, Pete.

I should do this, but I’m pretty sure this is a muscular or ligamentous issue and not a disc issue. Really feels like a sacroiliac joint problem – same exact thing happened about 2-3 years ago, one week later it had healed up and no issues until this one. I do tend to get lower back soreness from long hours standing and hunching to dissect in lab, and also when doing things like dishes in front of a sink. Might go see a local chiro who works with runners regularly.

Pete

Ice helped me a lot, I recommend that right away if you haven’t already started with it. Also, ultrasound helped. And after the initial pain/inflammation decreases, stretching…then exercise.

For me, it was one week of rest, then a week of walking/light jogging…and in week three I was doing slow 3-4 mile runs (I am typically a 20-24 miles a week kind of runner…and 50 years old). 

Question for you…is the book you are writing a biology text book, a running book, or both?!

Get well soon. 

Greg Fowler

I’m sure others with chime in with all kinds of advice, so none from me, just the small comfort of letting you know there are others of us out here feeling your frustration and hoping that your interruption is brief!

I wish it were just stress! Pain with sudden onset during forward bending and noticeably angry muscles/connective tissue in left hip – I’m afraid this was a genuine strain, lower back muscles or glutes.