It's been a long, long time since i've written anything for this blog. Part of it's because i've been really busy with work. But mostly, it's because I haven't been running. As you may recall (assuming I'm still on someones RSS feed), I had surgery 4 months ago to repair a torn right acetabular labrum.
No, I did not tear it running. Not sure that is even possible; a torn labrum of the hip, from what i'm told, is a twisting motion injury. The most famous, if you can call it that, torn hip labrum would be that of Alex Rodriguez. He kinda brought the injury to the limelight, if you will. I'm not sure how he tore his labrum, but it was most likely during one of his massive swings. Being nowhere near as cool as A-Rod, the story of how I tore my labrum is pretty lame. Actually, it's really lame. Here goes: I was pretending to karate kick Dyani. Yeah, that's right--a roundhouse, baby. Felt "something" right away and dropped to the ground...as Dyani laughed at me. I deserved it.
Anyway, I think I tore it last May or so. Didn't have the surgery until November. I was trying to wait until the new year--for insurance purposes. Alas, it hurt way too much, way too often. Had to have the surgery.
My doctor, Hal Martin, is considered one of the best in the country at this type of surgery. Hip arthroscopic surgery is all he does. And he is a machine. People come from everywhere to see this guy. He is damn good.
So, surgery was in November. Not the most pleasant recovery, but I survived. In an effort to keep this post short, I will skip all the details. Today, I had my 20 week follow up. I've been in some pain lately. The hip has been popping a little bit; when it pops, the pain is unbearable. Here is what I found out today (I bet I will get a little of this wrong, and i'm paraphrasing what I was told): the floor of my acetabulum is almost non existent. This sometimes happens after the surgery. At this time, there is nothing that can be done about it.
So what does that mean? Well, for one thing, my range of motion is limited. For example, I can no longer sit indian-style. Ever. Like never ever again during this lifetime. I can never sit in lotus position. I won't be able to sit down and prop my right leg on the other one. That popping I mentioned earlier? That was my femoral head popping out of my acetabulum. Basically, I was dislocating my hip--and then popping back in to place. Yum.
Now to the good news. I can run! Woo-Hoo! We ran through some tests to see how strong my leg is (luckily i've been hitting the gym pretty hard with the stupid bike and the stupid elliptical) and I passed with flying colors. The hip is healed. The pain I sometimes get (especially in the morning from all of the rolling around at night) is simply a part of life now.
I got a new pair of running shoes today. I'm starting fresh. I'm hitting the road (treadmill) for a long (1 mile) run. Yeah, 1 mile. That's my goal. I'm really excited to call myself a runner again. Plus, now I can read those Runners World magazines that have been gathering dust. I've refused to read them since the surgery. Silly, I know. But it was a little depressing.
So, expect to see something from me tomorrow. Perhaps on this blog, maybe on Daily Mile--or if i'm really lazy, I will simply toss it up on Facebook. But there will be something. Good luck to me.