If It Hurts, Stop Doing It!

That's pretty much the bottom line from my sports doctor today.  For more than two months I've been dealing with an injury of the right proximal hamstring conjoined tendon, at the point of attachment to the ischial tuberosity (i.e. where the hamstrings connect to the butt bones).

It seemed to be getting better and I had been running a little faster, without pain, taking 200m sprints at up to maybe 70-80% effort.  Then suddenly about two weeks ago some part of the tendon connection failed during a sprint like that. Big ouch. Since then I haven't been able to run without pain at any speed, even though walking is pain-free.  Instead, my girls and I have walked almost every day, about 25-30 miles per week.

I have not been able to find the injury by poking around in the area with my fingers, so my therapist (Katie) and I thought maybe it was the sciatic nerve, rather than the hamstring tendon.  However, the doc said that the sudden mid-stride reinjury was not typical of an irritated nerve.  More important, he did an ultrasound which seemed to show a dark region where the tendon should have been connected to the pelvis.

In the doctor's written report: "Diagnostic ultrasound imaging reveals a partial tear of the right hamstring conjoined tendon at the ischial tuberosity. Don should avoid sprinting for the fall months as I think this would put too much stress on the conjoint tendon.  He is cleared for continued walking and jogging, as long as there is no significant increase in pain."

Since the normal condition is no pain at all, I understood this to mean that if it hurts I should stop, period.  I plan to walk nearly every day, and test every time to see if it hurts if I jog.  When it doesn't, perhaps I'll start doing a walk/run every day.

We three have a race next Monday, Labor day, called the MDRA Victory 10k, named after the neighborhood in which the race is run and after the beautiful Victory Memorial Parkway in Minneapolis. We have done this race many times, and it's a very nice, flat, out-and-back route.  Further, it's one of the 13 Grand Prix events. I don't know how much of it I can run, if any, but I'm pretty sure that I can finish in the 90-minute time limit even if I have to walk the whole way.