Monday was knee surgery for my IT band repair. I have been injured for about 15 months which has left me unable to run over 5-10 minutes without pain. After 4 months off from running last winter the longest run I was able to do was 20 minutes. Pretty much my only run training was during the XTERRA races which would leave me very sore for and unable to walk stairs without knife-like pains in the side of my right knee. Eventually it started hurting to bike after 30 minutes. I had debated surgery mid-season, but since I was finishing on the podium in all of the races, I decided to finish what I had started and opted for a November surgery.
I am one day out from the surgery and things seemed to have gone well. When Dr. Hackett cut throught he IT band there was a massive amount of fluid and the bursa sac was very enlarged and abnormal. He removed the bursa and also cut an ellipse from the back side of the IT band. The recovery will start slow, but should progress faster after the first 4 weeks. I should be able to try running after 8-10 weeks. Since I haven't run without pain in so long, it seems like a short time.
The photo is the bursa that was removed. Normaly it is just a membrane that is one cell thick and almost invisible to the naked eye.
Josiah,
ReplyDeleteCongrats at worlds it sounds like a valiant effort. It is frustrating when you want and know you can do something but your body has different ideas. I'm glad to say my feet are doing very well and I'm back at it (I met you in Vail when getting treatment with Joel this past winter. I hear Kelsie was training with you guys in the pool b4 her Ironman!). I hope that your surgery went well and you heal fast and are back running and challenging your limits quickly!
Cheers and all the best
Becky