Memo to self: If you’re going to sneak in a run with a hip labral tear, keep it to once a week; and if you’re going to be stupid brazen enough to do it twice in one week, give yourself more than just a couple of days to recover!
When pressed, the orthopedic surgeon who’ll be performing arthroscopic surgery to repair the tear next month, said it was O.K. to run occasionally. Maintaining fitness now, he said, will help with my recovery later on. (Plus, I’ve heard from others with the same problem who’ve managed to keep running before surgery.)
And so I’ve been sneaking in a three-mile run once a week, followed by proper stretching and alignment exercises learned in physical therapy, and of course, icing. (I prefer frozen peas – the large-size bag!)
But this week I overdid it – couldn’t help myself, really – and ran twice . That’s one of the problems with these tears: they almost never hurt while you’re running, but afterwards … Ouch!
UPDATE: Feeling much better after a yoga class – the stretchy stuff helps!
Thanks for your kind words, Andy!
This is awesome! You are truly an inspiration to all the obsessive compulsive athletes out there! I am going to read all your additional work. Keep it up!