Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Happy belated Thanksgiving

Went back home to dallas for the holidays, and I couldn't play tag with my neices and nephews because I couldn't run without pain.

I cannot wait for this pain to end.

I meet with the prolotherapist on the 12th, here's to hoping that he will actually be able to help me out.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Another possible diagnosis, and possible PRP treatment

So I've kept researching what could be causing this pain, and there is a very similar injury to Athletic pubalgia (aka sports hernia), and that is an injury to the pubic symphysis.  The pubic symphysis is a cartilige joint, and it has some ligaments keeping it in place, and according to wikipedia:

Two such ligaments are the superior and inferior, these being the ligaments that provide the most stability... The strong and thicker superior ligament is reinforced by the tendons of the rectus abdominis... and thigh adductors muscles.

So I'm thinking when I pulled my groin (aka thigh adductor) I might have aslo damaged the ligament up in there as well.  It definitely feels like a precise pain in the pubic area, so this is a possibility, although it could be "just" a sports hernia.  If it is damage to superior ligament in the pubic symphysis then prolotherapy should prove to be really helpful.  If it's a sports hernia then perhaps not so much.  Either way, I think Dr. Hauser will be able to figure out if it is either.

Even though I have been very inactive this past two weeks, when I saw my massage therapist my psoas was once again "insanely tight".  We talked about why this could be when I've rested for the past two weeks and the only conclusion we could come up with is that there must be some type of soft tissue damage that the psoas is compensating for.

I feel like I am so God Damn close to figuring out this hip pain once and for all that I'm experiencing all kinds of emotions.  I've been dealing with my hip for years now, and the idea that I could finally figure the underlying reason for pain is honestly an idea that I'm a little scared to believe.  I want to hope for this, but I've been burned already and it makes me hesitant.  But it makes sense that I have some type of soft tissue damage in my hip, and that this is why I still experience hip pain.

If there is damage to the Pubic symphysis I am not going to look forward to the prolotherapy treatment,  I've seen this video of the treatment and the idea of getting like 7 injections right above my junk is not my idea of a good time.  However, this should tell you how much I'm ready for this pain to be gone.

I'm hoping the symphysis is the only issue, but if there is something else going on I surely hope Dr. Hauser can figure it out. 

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Def seems to be a Sports hernia

[UPDATE:  turns out it wasn't a sports hernia, just a really really tight pectineus that was trying to protect the instability in my hip caused by the tear in the labrum]
Ok so the more I look up stuff on sports hernias the more I am convinced that I have one.  Sports hernias are different than regular hernias.  In fact, they are very different injuries.  A sports hernia is tissue (including muscle) ripped off the pubic bone.  While I have tried to be conservative with my activity, I still find myself pushing through the pain to get the exercise done.  I've been doing some crossfit, subbing out exercises that hurt for ones that don't (rowing instead of running, etc).  Thing is, seems like there are more and more exercises that are starting to hurt so I'm going to take some time off and just do swimming (if I can) or something while I figure this out. I did start to feel better when I rested it, so back to rest I go.

As weird as this sounds, I think this could be a blessing. To be honest I'm starting to think I may have had a sports hernia to begin with.  I figured out the pain in my hip was from too tight muscles, which caused the FAI and torn labrum.  So once I got my hips to loosen up, the pain abated to a level that I could easily handle doing anything (scale of 1 to 10, 2 at most).  Thing is, my psoas kept tightening up causing pain so I keep having to go to get a massage.  Both my massage therapist and I are a little confused as to wonder why my psoas keeps tightening up.  I had figured out one level of why I had hip pain (tight muscles) but couldn't figure out the underlying reason why certain muscles were tightening up so much and so quickly.  ...A sports hernia could be the reason, a little muscle tear around the pubic bone could definitely cause contraction/tightening in the psoas.  And when I competed in the Oly lift competition and C+J'd 220 (when I also pulled my groin) I might have exacerbated the problem, causing more damage.  So perhaps this is a good thing, perhaps I will have finally figured out the underlying cause for my hip pain and be able to address it and move forward.

I plan on seeing a prolotherapist here in Chicago (Dr. Hauser), one who seems to have a good reputation from the reviews I've found so far (he also has a lot of youtube clips out there).  He claims that prolotherapy can help with torn labrums and sports hernias, and his website talking about why it works seems legit, so I think I'll give it a go, although I'm skeptical.  If that doesn't work, then I will probably have to have surgery.  It's damage to soft tissue, so as far as I understand it that type of injury doesn't repair itself.  I just may need an outpatient procedure where they get me with one or two staples and I'll be 100% in like a month.  Thing is, the staples have to be in the right place and so it will require a doctor that knows what he's doing, and I have yet to find a specialist.

One of the owners of crossfit rise had a sports hernia, and he elected not to have surgery, but it took him a year to recover.  So I'm really not sure what to do, although I don't really think I have the patience to wait it out for a year.

Really hope I can beat this thing.