Skip to main content

POP Goes the Tendon!

Knee Hamstring Injuries Anatomy: Avulsion

                              Image Source

If you go back to the beginning of this blog, you'll find many posts about my hamstring tendonitis, which I've suffered from since Little A's birth.  My pelvis shifted and my posture changed so that now, unless I consciously engage my abdominal muscles and do what feels like leaning forward to me, the weight of my torso and pelvis rest on my hamstring tendons that connect to my pelvic bones.  This created so much inflammation that I was eventually in constant pain and sitting (putting weight directly on the area), in particular, was excruciating.  There was some inflammation on both sides, but much worse on my left side.

After 2 years of physio there was no improvement.  Finally, following 2 cortisone shots I got some improvement.  But if the pain at it's worst was a 10, I'd say the best it got until recently was a 5.  I had kind of accepted that I would never be 100%.

Then I inadvertantly found something that helped.  When I began taking L-Glutamine, I discovered that not only did it alleviate my workout induced muscle soreness, but my tendonitis also improved significantly!  It makes sense since L-Glutamine helps with tissue repair and clearly I was someone deficient. 

I was thrilled and relieved that I no longer had to deal with chronic pain.  Just last Friday I was telling a friend of mine, who I was personal training, that I was as close to 100% as I'd ever been since the whole problem began.  Then, later that same day, I decided to do some stretching at home.  Having fallen off the yoga wagon for the past month (yes, I've not held up to my new year resolution to do yoga at least 1x week!), my muscles were feeling exceptionally tight.  I sat down and began my stretches.  Pushing myself a bit deeper into a stretch, I suddenly heard something pop on in my left hip. 

No F-ing Way!  No, this did not happen!  No, please, no!

Oh yes, it so did!!

Within seconds ALL that pain was back.  Sitting is incredibly painful once again.  And now I am concerned that I have gone beyond simple irritation of the tendon to a complete rupture.  Whether this means more long-term - and largely useless - treatment, or possibly even surgery, I don't know.  I have an appointment booked with my sports medicine doctor in 3 weeks time.  I have a feeling the news is not going to be good.

I am beyond bummed (no pun intended) about this.  My consult with doctor Google suggests that if surgery is warranted, it could affect my activity from between 8 weeks to a year!  I ain't no professional athlete, but exercise is such an important part of my life, and fundamental to my physical and mental health. 

Whoas me!  Crying 2

Actually, I woke up feeling much better today, so perhaps I'm catastrophizing and even if I did, in fact, tear something, it's not going to require surgery.

Good thing it's Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend.  It's a perfect time for me to reflect on all the things I have to be grateful for.  It's my favorite time of year, favorite type of weather and this morning there have only been two major fights between the girls and Little A has only melted down three times and it's already 8am.  Hurray!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: The A to Z of Children's Health

Hey there, welcome to Monday!  We had a delightful, relatively quiet weekend.  How was yours?  Hopefully no one in your home was sick...there is a lot of nasty stuff going around these days. If you're a parent, than you have probably spent far more time that you would like to desperately searching Google and/or parenting books trying to figure out if your child's rash, cough or fever warrants a trip to the doctor or if there is something that can be done to treat it.  It's hard not to worry that it could be something more ominous that just an every day infection and while you'd make yourself (and everyone around you) nuts if you panicked every time your kid has the sniffles, as a parent, you naturally want to do everything in your power to prevent your child from harm. Recently I was sent The A to Z of Children's Health , written by doctors Jeremy Friedman, Natasha Saunders, and Norman Saunders, of Toronto's very own Hospital for Sick Children .  One of th

How to Look Like a Celebrity

Okay, I know you're going to be interested in this post! I am sure virtually every woman in North America has wondered how Hollywood celebrities achieve such 'perfect' bodies.  Well, at CAN FIT PRO last week, one of Hollywood's top fitness trainers, Eric the Trainer , was there to tell us fitness professionals the secrets! Eric the Trainer, gave several presentations, and I caught the one on Celebrity Secrets, and it was most interesting!!!  I also found some of what he said rather disturbing. First off, he was very upfront about the fact that celebrities come to him for improve their appearance.  Not to improve their health or athletic performance.  To look their best.  He admitted that his approach then, is entirely dedicated to that end. Male and female celebrities are trained in completely different ways because Hollywood wants women to be lithe and thin and in his words, "look like they dropped out of heaven looking this way without every having ste

Blackfly Coolers: Product Review

Summer is over! Well, at least if you're a student. Officially it doesn't end for a few weeks, and it certainly still feels like summer. Yeah, I hate it. This f*cking hot, humid weather needs to end NOW! We made the most of our last weekend of the summer with our annual trip to the CNE on Friday, with a crowd of friends. It wasn't unbearably lot, thank goodness, and the girls and their friends had a blast on the rides.  Saturday I had to work, and Sunday was errand day. Monday we took the girls berry/apple/pear picking but didn't last long due to the heat. I organized the house to prepare for the construction workers starting back up yesterday, while Adam took the girls for a swim in our neighbourhood pool. Yesterday was the first day of school. Grade 2 and Grade 5. Yep, the girls are growing up.  We are fortunate that the girls don't have much anxiety about school, they are so much more confident than I ever was as a kid! But now, in the midst of our reno ch