Surprisingly enough, I’m not dead! How exciting!
What is unexciting is that the hip still is causing me grief, and it’s looking like a no-run situation for the remainder of 2010. Boo.
Three months (ish) on from my last post, I have a fabulous new dream job and am rehabbing my hip with doses of physio, cycling, swimming and (!) ultrasound-guided pilates.
Most natural runners tell me that the most important thing with running is to just get out and run. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t natural runners. I am one of those who has a whole lot of work to do before heading to the track, trail or road. Pity I didn’t find this out before wreaking a temporary armageddon on my body in the form of a marathon… Since the hip-hop (operation) I’ve found that I have no function on one side of my deep abdominals, and a whole lot of other interesting (read: annoying) issues that have caused my hips and knees to hate me. But the good news is with specific strength training, including this one-on-one physiotherapist wielding ultrasound pilates (the ultrasound lets the patient see what their muscles are. and in my case are not doing), things will get better.
I thought that somebody (if anybody still reads this thing) might find some of the tips and tricks that I’m learning useful, so here goes. (Be waned, however. This isn’t suitable conversation for polite company! It’s grotesque, bodily function laced runner talk!)
So here’s my first tip (courtesy of the medical professionals): Pelvic floor exercises are not just for girls. They are for runners of all genders and transgenders. Tense your pelvic floor muscles in the same manner in which you would hold in a fart. Seriously. Hold for ten seconds (and here’s the difficult bit) WITHOUT tensing your stomach muscles. This is very difficult, but essential in helping to activate and build the deeper abdominals responsible for holding hips and backs together when put under the strain of exercise. Try to squeeze the pelvic floor muscles upwards, almost feeling like you are pointing them to the middle of the top of your skull. You should feel them move backwards towards your sacrum (above the tail bone).
If anything, this piece of advice could save you hundreds at the physio. Try to do it ten reps, two or three times per day lying down with your knees bent at 90 degrees.
Enjoy 
Will aim to post at least once per week and not have such ridiculous sojourns in future!
xo
July 18, 2010 at 8:44 pm |
Two decades on from my caesarean, I too am having one on one with a physio to try to reconnect with those lost muscles.
What I didn’t understand in the interim period was that the loss of the neural connection eventually caused me to develop the beginnings of a dowager’s hump because nothing was working together properly.
Kegel exercises are vital in helping you to reconnect with your deeper abs and to build a core strength that will keep you upright. Have you seen those poor old ladies bent double over their zimmer frames? Well, I saw my future.
On the plus side, working your Kegels has all sorts of pleasant benefits in the bedroom department
PS Have you tried Five Fingers, the new ‘bare foot running shoes’? They are really good for helping with posture and a lot of the physios are recommending them to runners suffering with achilles and other problems. I dont do a lot of jogging but I have found that they are really helping to correct my posture through realigning my feet.
July 25, 2010 at 10:41 am |
Hi Joanna… I’ve seen the five fingers (how strangely awesome they look!), but wonder if they are good for over pronators. Must ask the podiatrist. And as for the pelvic floor exercises, it is really interesting to see the difference from week to week on the ultrasound as everything begins to strengthen. Incredible!
July 20, 2010 at 6:54 am |
Sorry to hear about the hip issues!! Cycling and swimming are good substitutes though.
But I want to hear more about this dream job…
July 25, 2010 at 10:42 am |
Ha. Ha. Ha. No job for you!