First Physical Therapy Visit

I went back to NovaCare for physical therapy on Tuesday regarding my right ITB pain and right knee pain. 

First, I like that my therapist gets me as a runner.  He doesn't want me to do anything too drastic or tell me to stop running entirely.  My PT session went well and I left armed with some tips and exercies to hopefully clear up these problems.

The exercies were pretty simple:

• One for my hips, which are super weak - I have to push my butt, back and head up against a wall and bend one leg in.  I then put my heel into the wall and lift my leg up.  He had me do 3 reps of 10 for this exercise.  The first rep felt good, but after a while, my hip was burning like no other and I could barely lift my leg up.  Not good.
• A balance exercise: I stand on one leg, slighly bend the other and then touch the shin of my slightly bent leg.  I'm not supposed to drop back on my hip.  This exercise is supposed to help w/ the balls of my feet too.
• Hamstring stretch since mine are a little tight.
• Foam Roller - he had me go for 3 minutes so I am implementing that at home.

He had me run down the hallway to see if he could spot any obvious issues w/ my form.  He found some.

• I am a heel striker, which I'm not shocked about.  I've seen pictures taken of me running.  This is not good because the impact shots up my leg and casues issues.
• My kick is too low.  Instead of going straight back it is slightly going to the side.  Again, not good.

He recommended that I get gait analysis done and there is a guy who is by Union Station who can do it.  I defnitely am going to do that.  My form (or lack thereof) needs all the help it can get!  Also, I desperately need to get fitted for new kicks.  My Brooks Adreneline GTS 11's are approching a year old now. 

We talked about taping my knee and he used his special tape as opposed to my KT tape to tape it.  My right knee isn't moving in the track right either.  It wants to go up and then to the side.  He taped it in such a way that the knee is supposed to be stable and not move around so much.

The taping job - pardon my thunder thighs :)

It hurt so bad on Tuesday when I was trying to sit with my knees bent.  I had to prop my leg up on another seat on the Metra ride home.  But, I figured that I would listen to him and see if it worked.

My homework was to run 3 miles, which I did.

I averaged an 8:24 pace per mile - way too quick probably, but it was hot out there and I really didn't want to be out there longer than I needed to.  The right knee/itb did not give me any issue.

However, I think my left knee/itb is starting to crap out.  I can feel it on the outside of my left knee occasccionally when I run and I can feel it a bit after.

I really hope these exercies will do the trick and solve my issues.  We shall see I guess.  But, at least I can run.  I just worry if the pain will be too much once we really start putting the miles on our legs w/ the marathon training program...  Again, hopefully since we'll be at a 10:00 minute mile pace that it won't be an issue since I've gone faster.

As for the training this week, I was supposed to do 4 on Wednesday, but skipped it since I worked late and had an appointment after work.  I was supposed to run 3 on Thursday, but I did that this morning on the treadmill to avoid the heat.

The treadmill is good for me because it forces me to run at a 10 minute mile pace.  I mean, there are most likely variations with the pace the treadmill says and the pace that I ran it at, but nevertheless, it's better than me going out on my own and running under 9 minute miles and pushing myself.

The run felt great.  I definitely could have run more and faster, but I have 9 tomorrow so I am going to hold off on it.  Dad is going to come to the long run so that will be fun!