Good news! My leg doesn’t hurt right now. I ran a mile yesterday, stopping to stretch twice on the way, and my knee didn’t hurt, nor did my quadricep or IT band. That one mile was short but it felt so incredibly good. It reminded me of everything I love about running.
I totally expected my leg to hurt a ton after that run. I stretched it a lot and iced it right afterwards. Much to my pleasant surprise, it didn’t hurt at all! So tomorrow I’ll probably try for a long run, maybe 3 miles or so.
Not running 15 miles a week for two weeks certainly helped. But I’ll give credit to my friend Dr. Balin, the chiropractor and his massage therapist, Keith. Every few days I’ve been heading to the Wellness Centre, getting an intensely painful massage of the IT band, hamstring, etc, plus a spinal adjustment and then Scott tapes me up.
To be honest I think the massage helps the most to loosen up the ultra tight IT band. It nearly makes me cry, the work he does. Sadomasochistic really, because there is pleasure when he is done. We chat a bit while he works and the classical music playing also helps distract me.
Dr. Balin says aligning my spine helps the healing. I don’t know about that, but I do think the kinesio tape is helping. I asked what it does, and he said it acts as a support, helping things move where they should, but it also lifts the skin enough to allow some lymphatic fluid to move around underneath, speeding up healing. It definitely helped erase both an old bruise I had and some more recent bruising caused either by the foam roller or the massage…not sure which. Plus as soon as I took the tape off my knee, I felt the kneecap drop a little and it starts to rub and be irritated. So I guess it was lifting that knee a bit. Like a brace but much lighter.
The tape looks really hilarious, especially because I wear shorts everywhere to keep it sticking longer. Pants and bedsheets sometimes cause it to start peeling off.
Today this old guy who lives near me got my attention as I was walking home from school. “Young lady, is that stuff therapeutic or just decorative? Because if it’s just decorative it’s doing a good job.” People ask me about it all the time. I do kind like the colors!
So wish me luck on my run tomorrow. If it goes well I’ll be back on track for the Houston Half Marathon!
So happy that you are healing!! And I love the tape. I always wondered what it did for people because I see it all the time now. Praying that you keep healing and can get back to running!
So happy that you are healing!! And I love the tape. I always wondered what it did for people because I see it all the time now. Praying that you keep healing and can get back to running!