Warning: whining ahead (injury keeping me off the bike)

[slowtriguy]

Hi everyone. I hope you’ll forgive a whine…and yes, I’d love some cheese with it, thanks.

I ran a race back in March and since then have been having a bit of pain in my heel. I went into the doctor a couple of weeks ago and was diagnosed with bursitis and possible achilles tendonitis, and given a prescription for two weeks of “aggressive rest”. In other words: no running, no shoes that put pressure on the heel, be careful about biking, and come back in two weeks if it’s not better.

I was a good boy for those two weeks – no running, only commute biking, and swimming. I even went so far as to cut out the heel of an old pair of running shoes and put platform pedals on the commuter to take the pressure off my heel. My foot didn’t get much better, so back I went on Tuesday. Achilles tendonitis confirmed, and now I am wearing a spiffy ankle immobilizer brace and have been told three weeks minimum of no running, no biking, minimal walking, and maximal rest.

No biking?!? For three weeks?!? I’m a bike commuter – how to get around that? The doctor’s response was basically: “Do you want to heal or not?” Mrs. slowtriguy said, “Oh, jeez, you’re going to be unbearable.”

So I am now riding Metro for the next few weeks and trying not to be unbearable as I miss my commute.

Happy riding, everyone, and I’ll see you out there as soon as my foot allows me!

Topic

[Dickie]

Bummer! Hope you feel better soon. It’s always best to listen to the docs…. 3 weeks will not seem like much by the time summer is upon us, as opposed to not resting and feeling like crap for the rest of the season. At least take this time to clean up and overhaul the bike!

[acc]

I understand. So sorry you have to deal with this. There is nothing worse than being injured. Stay well.

ann

[Greenbelt]

Sorry for your hurts. I’m nursing a thumb injury from a crash last weekend (combination of poor judgement, a water main break, and an urban rail spur — not fun).

But your post did get me wondering about hand-powered bikes. Are any of them feasible?

[KLizotte]

Ouch, that sucks no way about it. I’ve battled plantar fasciitis for years so I know how frustrating these tendon injuries are. I would recommend getting a second opinion just in case. Hopefully the doc gave you prednisone to decrease the inflammation.

[slowtriguy]

Thanks everyone — you cheered me right up!

I’ll be a good boy and stay off the bike. MRI coming up midweek should give more insight…

Good point on the overhaul, Dickie — it’s about time for a cable job, so I guess I can get that done. Greenbelt, sorry for your injury – I hope you’re back in full form shortly. acc and KLizotte, thanks very much for your kind thoughts.

I just hope this clears up in time for Bike to Work Day. Last year, I wore pirate garb; this year, I was already planning something more over the top…ah, well.

Thanks again, everyone – I really do appreciate it.

[Mark Blacknell]

Good luck and I hope things work out easily. My advice to you – and anyone else who is active and dealing with injury – is make sure your doctor deals with active people and actually understands that “good enough” is not good enough. Unfortunately, the reference standard in the US seems to be ambulatory (rather than fit and active), and I’ve found that it makes a difference when a doctor has a real appreciation for your need to not just move, but compete. I hope you’ve got one like that in your corner.

[KLizotte]

@slowtriguy 49701 wrote:

I just hope this clears up in time for Bike to Work Day. Last year, I wore pirate garb; this year, I was already planning something more over the top…ah, well.

You can’t get out of BTWD that easily buster. Bike and Roll rents tandems so you just need to convince the Mrs. that she’s gonna have to step up to the plate and pedal like mad so you can do your thing (not pedaling of course).

(just kidding…..most important thing right now is to get that darn footie healed up quick)

[brendan]

@Mark Blacknell 49704 wrote:

Good luck and I hope things work out easily. My advice to you – and anyone else who is active and dealing with injury – is make sure your doctor deals with active people and actually understands that “good enough” is not good enough. Unfortunately, the reference standard in the US seems to be ambulatory (rather than fit and active), and I’ve found that it makes a difference when a doctor has a real appreciation for your need to not just move, but compete. I hope you’ve got one like that in your corner.

I concur with Mark on the point of stressing to your doctor the important of athletics/cycling in your life. I really should have pushed my ortho guy harder for surgery last summer. It’s now been almost four months from the “oh, I guess it didn’t heal” ORIF surgery in December and in the interim, there’s been a ton of doctor ordered rest and inactivity, plus over 100 applications of the bone stimulator. Hopefully today I’ll get the good news after yet another pair of x-rays of my clavicle (over 30 chest x-rays at this point, argh). If not, it’s more surgery which I can’t afford right now anyway.

So…frak it…I started riding my bike last week against doctors order because it was too darn nice out not too and the shoulder *feels* much better than it did even a month ago. I’m a problem patient.

Brendan

[vvill]

My doc is a (casual) cycling fan so unfortunately(?) he often spends more time talking to me about my riding or Le Tour, etc. than concentrating on care.

[Tim Kelley]

@slowtriguy 49679 wrote:

Hi everyone. I hope you’ll forgive a whine…and yes, I’d love some cheese with it, thanks.

I ran a race back in March and since then have been having a bit of pain in my heel. I went into the doctor a couple of weeks ago and was diagnosed with bursitis and possible achilles tendonitis, and given a prescription for two weeks of “aggressive rest”. In other words: no running, no shoes that put pressure on the heel, be careful about biking, and come back in two weeks if it’s not better.

I was a good boy for those two weeks – no running, only commute biking, and swimming. I even went so far as to cut out the heel of an old pair of running shoes and put platform pedals on the commuter to take the pressure off my heel. My foot didn’t get much better, so back I went on Tuesday. Achilles tendonitis confirmed, and now I am wearing a spiffy ankle immobilizer brace and have been told three weeks minimum of no running, no biking, minimal walking, and maximal rest.

No biking?!? For three weeks?!? I’m a bike commuter – how to get around that? The doctor’s response was basically: “Do you want to heal or not?” Mrs. slowtriguy said, “Oh, jeez, you’re going to be unbearable.”

So I am now riding Metro for the next few weeks and trying not to be unbearable as I miss my commute.

Happy riding, everyone, and I’ll see you out there as soon as my foot allows me!

What kind of Doctor was this? Was he/she just a family physician, or someone with specific training in physical therapy.

In the meantime, I’d suggest checking out Active Release Therapy. http://www.activerelease.com/providerSearch.asp?strGeocode=%2838.8799697%2C+-77.1067698%29&strAddress=Arlington%2C+VA%2C+USA

If worse comes to worse, 3 weeks now is better than 3 months later….

[dasgeh]

Sounds like an ebike could help you, if you can get the doc to sign off on minimal exercise. It’s not much more than walking. Just don’t tell certain forum members.

[Terpfan]

@Tim Kelley 49746 wrote:

What kind of Doctor was this? Was he/she just a family physician, or someone with specific training in physical therapy.

In the meantime, I’d suggest checking out Active Release Therapy. http://www.activerelease.com/providerSearch.asp?strGeocode=%2838.8799697%2C+-77.1067698%29&strAddress=Arlington%2C+VA%2C+USA

If worse comes to worse, 3 weeks now is better than 3 months later….

Very astute point. No offense to the primary care folks–practioners or NPs, but when it comes to specialized care you want the person who specializes in your specific injury/issue/area of the body, particularly one who did a fellowship in whatever you need. It’s not that others can’t do it, it’s that the specialized expertise makes a difference.

[JorgeGortex]

As someone who has been sidelined from running, more or less, since 2010 since because of Achilles tendinitis I am here to tell you take it easy. It sucks… but I didn’t back off because I was training for a race and I have caused myself no end of problems. My Achilles simply isn’t healing well. The next thing I can add is don’t take random advice… or even not so random advice from doctors. I went to do two different podiatrists, both runners, and thought I was getting good advice. In retrospect I was either getting not great or not complete advice that has only prolonged or worsened the injury.

It wasn’t until I talked to my primary care doc (a team doc for the Caps) that I got pointed in the right direction. He sent me to Dr. Cuttica at the Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Center. The great thing about this facility is that they are total care: doctors, PT, and onsite orthotic creation. And they only deal with lower leg/foot issues. Now, I am still trying to recover from my injury, but I feel like the advice and care I’ve received has been accurate and therapeutic. http://www.footankledc.com/medical-staff/daniel-j-cuttica-d-o/

Ultimately, again, my advice on an Achilles injury (or any injury) is to take it easy, heal, heal completely and smartly before you try to get active as you’d like again. Otherwise you are running the risk of long term frustration or worse.

JG

[slowtriguy]

I feel like a chump for not replying more quickly to all the great support and advice! I’ll riff on my own title and say the injury’s keeping me off the bike, and work stress was keeping me off the forum…finally able to get back on tonight. Sorry for not replying more quickly.

Mark B., brendan, Tim K., terpfan, and especially JorgeGortex, thanks very much for the advice and pointers to specialists. I’ve been seeing my GP and a podiatrist, but if the follow-up appointment next Tuesday doesn’t leave me with the appropriate warm fuzzies, I am definitely going to a sports medicine orthopod. This “resting to heal” stuff is darned frustrating — I want to ride, run, and race (slowly as always) again, dang it. But I’ll be a good boy.

And KLizotte, let me just say this bit:

You can’t get out of BTWD that easily buster. Bike and Roll rents tandems so you just need to convince the Mrs. that she’s gonna have to step up to the plate and pedal like mad so you can do your thing (not pedaling of course).

actually made me laugh out loud…thanks!

Thanks again for all the advice and support, everyone.

[PotomacCyclist]

I’ve never had any overuse injuries from cycling, just a few bumps and bruises from minor falls (and one not-so-minor tumble). But I did have a lot of injuries when I first started running a few years ago. I was injured almost non-stop, or so it seemed. Runner’s knee in the first month. Rest and recovery. But then I had tightness in the hip and lower back/ITBS, sore knees during most long runs and then a very sore spot on top of one foot (which was probably the beginning of a stress fracture). That was all in the first year.

I stopped running for several weeks before my goal race (my first triathlon, which was Olympic distance). I made it through but I was sorely undertrained while also dealing with all of those injuries.

I took some time off after my final race that fall. That allowed me to heal up from all of the minor and more significant problems. Then I started up again with low-intensity work. I also started including more functional strength training. Aside from a brief problem with shin splints (which went away after a couple weeks of lower-leg strength exercises), I haven’t had another overuse injury since then, a period of almost four years now. (I tripped on someone’s foot at a race last fall and sprained a finger. I also slipped on a treadmill while wearing slightly wet running shoes and skinned both knees. But those weren’t overuse injuries.)

Heal up now. Then address any and all possible causes of the injury, whether it’s bike fit, doing too much too soon, muscle weakness or imbalances, technique during hill workouts, etc. Better to take care of this for good now, instead of turning this into a 6-month problem.

In the meantime, I’m not sure if it would be advisable to watch Ironman Championship DVDs or not. It might make the recovery even more difficult since you can’t ride. But maybe you’ll get so caught up in the DVDs that it helps to satisfy your cycling urges, sort of.

[Author]

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