« Better-than-average run | Main | A good run anyway »
September 27, 2004
Dismissed
It seems like a lot of us have been doing some venting lately, so let me do some of my own. This afternoon I was scheduled for a "double" appointment with Dr. Brady so that he could watch me run again. Basically he stands there watching me while I jog back and forth across a plaza (hoping no one I know is watching.) So I do a few "laps" and notice him looking quizzically at me. I asked him how it looked and he was kind of like, "Well, not as good as I had hoped." The bottom line was he didn't see all that much improvement in my stride and upper-body rotation since the last time he watched me run, which was on August 25. Since that time, I've been seeing him 2-3 times a week and doing a lot of strengthening stuff for my hamstrings and core that he showed me. And, as all my loyal blog-readers know, I've also been running more, albeit with some knee achiness (right now it's in the patella.)
So we went back to his office and he seemed kind of confused as to why I hadn't "improved" as much as he anticipated I would have. I suggested a few reasons, such as I've probably been running asymetrically for years now, but he seemed to think it's because my quads aren't strong enough. I guess that could be true, but ever since I had tendonitis after Boston 2002 I've done squats and other quad strengthening exercises in the gym--with weights. I told him this and he decided that I need to "get stronger before I come back and see him." He told me to cancel any upcoming appointments for this week and call him to schedule one when I felt that my quads really were strong enough so that my stride would be more balanced.
I walked out of there saying I'd call in a few weeks, but in reality I had kind of a bitter taste in my mouth. A month ago he was sure my stride was the way it is because of my hamstring weakness. Now he's sure it's my quads. I'm certain my knee issues have something to do with weakness, but I just invested a lot of time into chiropractic treatment and now he's basically saying he can't do any more for me unless I change something about myself. No thanks--I've tried his "revolutionary" method and I think it's taken me as far as I can go.
I'm obviously frustrated because I stopped running the first week in June to take care of this knee injury. Now it's almost October. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would take this long just to be running a little bit more comfortably. I missed a summer of marathon training, I've spent so much money on doctors, physical therapists, swimming equipment, etc. I just want to get back to running basically as much as I want, doing speed work and long runs and racing occasionally. The ironic part is, I didn't ever really take time off for my aches and pains in the last five years or so, and they all went away on their own. Plantar fasciitis, patellar tendonitis, hamstring soreness...sure, they slowed me down some, but I never got out of shape from taking time off and I liked it that way. Not to sound like a whiner, but I took it for granted that if something hurt, it would feel better in a few days, and now I'm afraid that my knee pain will never go away. Part of me thinks I'm just not built to be a runner, but the runner part of me knows I always will be. So when will I be back to myself again?
Posted by becky at September 27, 2004 8:03 PM
Comments
I'm not an all an expert, but you can do a self-assessment to see just how strong your quads and hamstrings are in reference to each other if you have access to weight machines for leg extensions (for quads) and leg curls (for hamstrings). If you do have access, find the weight for each exercise that you can do evenly for 3 sets of 15 reps, with even effort. You want to make sure it is a weight that you can do the entire motions of each exercise slowly and smoothly. I've been told for female distance runners, the hamstring/quad strength ratio should be no less than 60%. That is, hamstrings are naturally the weaker muscle, but should be no less than 60% as strong as the quad.
The other leg imbalance that I've learned causes knee issues is imbalances in the strength of the inner and outer quad muscle. Among other things, imbalances here torque the patella out of position. Most distance runners have stronger outer quads than inner quads, which causes the patella to tip towards the outer part of the knee. There are several exercises to do that can help even the imbalance. If you're interested, I'll write more, because I have this problem.
Good luck with everything. I'm anxious to hear about your next step! Meghan
Posted by: Meghan at September 27, 2004 11:58 PM
dogg, have you been paying this guy all along? perhaps you should sue him :) Wait, too bad he isn't a real doc!
Posted by: Emily at September 28, 2004 12:27 PM
That's terrible and seems unethical. It's not right that he led you to believe that he was going to be able to help, only to tell you that you have to figure it out yourself. I hope you can find someone who can really determine the source of your pain/injury. Any way you can call up your old therapist to ask her what she thinks?
Posted by: Leilani at September 30, 2004 12:25 AM