Once a week Joe and I have a date.

We meet up at the back of the Fleet Feet store on Lane Avenue where he spends anywhere from 30-45 mins working me hard.

Joe is my physical therapist.

I’ve been battling pain in my hip and leg. It’s gone on for a very long time.

I traditionally had one of two approaches to handling the injury.

I self medicated with Aleve and continued to run

or

I would talk my primary care physician into giving me a cortisone injection (those usually occurred every 3 -6 months) and continue to run.

Both options masking the pain, never getting at the root of the problem.

The gig was up earlier this fall when the pain became so great my long runs were torture. My primary care doctor refusing to give me anymore cortisone, referred me to a sports medicine doctor who specialized in runners. After x-rays to rule out a few injuries the sports medicine doctor sent me to Joe for six weeks of PT. He said Joe was the best in the business when dealing with my type of injury.

On day one Joe laid out what I was up against, the work I had ahead of me.

After years of the same repetitive motion, one side of my body was weaker than the other.  My one hip dropping lower than it should.

Somewhere deep inside that hip, buried under other muscle, was one little muscle who had been doing a ton of work. That muscle was not strong enough to carry the load.

Over the last year other muscles around that little muscle had been trying hard to make up for its failings. The result was now the pain I felt in the larger muscles (my hamstring) and in my nerves, who had become irritated by the little muscle.

Pain as a result of ignoring the issue and not strengthening the muscle.

I didn’t realize how weak I was.

Isn’t that how life sometimes works? It takes another person to point out the areas of weakness we couldn’t see ourselves?

I have a half marathon in Rochester, NY on January 7.

Joe promises, if I do the work, it will be a pain free race.

Message heard clearly.

No longer masking the pain, weakness noted, I’ll be putting the time in to course correct.