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.

Three months out

First week of October I had xray number 5. Things continued to improve, and I was allowed to go 50% weight bearing and use the static cycle with virtually no resistance.  

At this point, my first warning sign happened. Reintroducing weight bearing wasn’t straightforward. I had experienced no pain for nearly month, yet the return to weight bearing and static cycling (again, very carefully) made my deep groin ache – not sharp, but a noticeable 1 or 2 on the 1 – 20 scale.  I couldn’t find any threads on the blogs about the normalcy during this phase. Was achiness normal? Was this a sign of stressing the fracture? I panicked after a few days of this and requested yet another xray (number 6 – which leads me to wonder about radiation issues down the road!). The xray still showed improvement, with the tension side nearly healed and compression side also looking good – with the exception of a small bone cyst right in the area of the former crack!).

Matt assured me that this would likely heal on its own, with the cyst reabsorbing in time. It may be that my reintroduction simply stressed the bone enough to accumulate a little fluid within. There was no way to know if the ache was caused by the cyst or if it was simply a correlation. Regardless, the ache was present.  It would begin in the morning when I started to move about and remain throughout the day. It would go away when I went to bed.

NWB part 2

The four weeks were hard. Mentally, it was very difficult for me to “shut it completely down,” but frankly I had no choice.  I hadn’t taken more than a week off in over 16 years, and now I faced the prospect of …who knows how long. I had to cancel planned races, watch all sorts of people running and biking in the wonderful autumn weather, and yes, it was mentally difficult. Physically, after a week of NWB, I had almost no pain at all.  However, I didn’t dare risk putting any weight down, so I had no way of knowing about response to pressure/resistance.

I also made a point of taking supplemental calcium with D3. Matt indicated that it was probably unnecessary for me, since my diet was already fairly good, but I felt that it couldn’t hurt (and it also made me feel as if I had some input/control toward my healing). I continued to eat as healthily as I could – lots of fruits/vegetables/meats/dairy. Very balanced.  I also tried to increase my caloric intake to help with the healing.

By mid September the latest Xray showed notable callus growth. By the third week, the tension side looked very good (thank heavens), and the compression side was getting better. I also began to put weight on the leg, essentially doing “toe touching” for a week with the crutches.  Believe me, this little graduation brought tears of joy.

A week later (last week of September), I was allowed to go back to the pool, swimming only with a pool buoy (and absolutely no kicking or pushing off the wall). Ironically, my leg and hip felt fine. I had experienced no pain for over two weeks, and even the gradual increase in weight with toe-touching produced no pain.