Shockwave Therapy

It’s been 2 months since I re-injured my knee. After an appointment at the KOPI Sports Medicine Clinic two weeks ago, I discovered that the cause of my Patella Femoral problem has been due to a very tight right psoas. This has also resulted in an achilles tendon flareup from the change in my mechanics too. Lucky me…two injuries for the price of one :)

Anyhow, I have noticed some pretty good improvements with my knee as I’ve been focusing on stretching my psoas more; however the achilles has been on again, off again. Some days it is pretty good, while other days it is pretty tender. The common thing though is that at the start of every run as of late it has ranged from being anywhere from tight to tender, and doesn’t feel like I have my normal strong toe off.

I have felt as though it has improved, but not at the rate that I would like it to have. I’ve continued on sort of in a state of half ass training and half ass recovery. After consulting with my physio today, he was not pleased with the progress of my achilles at this point either and feels as though it may be limiting the recovery of my knee injury. I totally agree.

I guess I feel that I could probably continue on the way I have and things ‘might’ turn around soon, but then again they might not. I do feel that I have more to lose then to gain right now and have decided to be a little more aggressive with my rehab. I’ve held off this long in the hopes that I could turn this around and be ready for a late summer race. As the weeks click past though, this might not be the wisest approach. I have definitely decided not to run Haliburton 100 this year, which will be tough not to do since I just love the race. I am looking into other options a little later though. Virgil Crest 100 certainly appeals to me, which is a few weeks later, but still may be too soon. We’ll have to wait and see how things go.

So the exciting news for me is that I have tried a new form of therapy called shockwave therapy. It hasn’t been around for long, but from everything I’ve read and heard, it’s been getting great results. I feel very fortunate in that KOPI offers this therapy at their clinic. That is one of the reasons that I decided to come to this clinic is because of all the different things that they offer under one roof. That is the way healthcare should be!

I had my first shockwave treatment today and didn’t really know what to expect. It was almost like a jackhammer hitting my achilles for about 5mins. It was a little uncomfortable when it hit some tender spots, but not too bad. I did feel as though my tendon was a little looser, though a bit achy following the appointment. I also had some pretty deep ART on my psoas again and it seems to be improving. The thing that I have to be careful of with shockwave is to take it pretty easy for a couple of days following each session, which is the main reason for my decision to cut back a bit more. I have a total of 3 sessions booked in the next two weeks. This is usually enough to get maximum benefit from what I have been told at KOPI.

So, the plan for the next few weeks will be to keep the volume pretty low, especially for the first two days following treatments, and then increase a little before the next session. I’m almost treating the shockwave sessions the same way that I would a long run, hard workout or race, and give it lots of recovery after.

While I’m a little disappointed that I still don’t have a race in the near future, I am encouraged about where I’m at right now and where I hope to be back to in a few weeks time. After all, it’s all about being out there and in it for the long haul.