Returning to Exercise

By mid October I was given permission to try more resistance in biking and full weight bearing on walking. The ache was still present. Nothing at night, no throbbing, no sharp pain like before in early August. I could stand just fine. I could even balance on my injured leg just fine. (In late August, prior to my diagnosis, I noticed that I couldn’t balance anymore on my affected leg. This was very weird; my muscles had obviously shut down and refused to “fire” anymore). 

I also experienced tightness in my iliopsoas – occasionally snapping, and notably uncomfortable. Stretching seemed to make the ache worse, so I simply lived with it. Again, nowhere did I read from other people recovering from the FNSF about aches of this sort.

By October 21^st, the last scheduled X-ray showed nearly normal tension side bone and notably good compression side (with clean lines on the exterior of the image). The cyst was still there. The aches would come in the morning as I tried to walk around. They’d diminish when I’d sit down, and reappear with tightness as the day progressed. Again, nothing acute at all, but worrisome.

A few weeks prior (first week of October), in anticipation of the “someday” of returning to elliptical exercise (and dare I even think about running “someday”), I had done some research on the internet about using elliptical machines to recover from a running injury. One link on the web introduced me to the use of a machine called an Elliptigo, and I spent time reading as many user accounts and reviews as I could find. I decided to purchase one, even though I knew that it might be a week or two before I could even try it.  (Believe me, if you experience this injury, you will spend hours looking on the net for stories of those who have suffered through this process, including the ways in which exercise is gradually reintroduced). The Elliptigo was a significant investment, but I figured at this point – why not.

On October 21^st I rode the Elliptigo for the first time. Let me just write plainly that it was the most joyous, non-impact experience that could simulate running again. I went for a twenty minute “run” on the Elliptigo, and it was blissful. Apart from swimming, nothing had been able to get my heart rate so high, and it was such a release emotionally to be “out there” again, riding on the roads in the autumn air using a running motion. Let me state here and now that I have no affiliation at all with Elliptigo. I am a paying customer, and I gladly and wholeheartedly endorse their product. It is an investment, and there’s no denying that. I purchased their 8C model, for it allowed me to do some hill climbing around the New England town where I live. Put simply, it was the best money I’ve spent on a piece of athletic equipment ever.