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Bad News, Good News, Bad News
Bad news #1 is that as of December 2008 my right hamstring was still bothering me. For a quick recap... In December 2007 my doctor diagnosed a "grade 1" hamstring strain. Six weeks of PT I still had pain but was cleared to run. It never quite healed. My goal to run the Wild West 100K in August 2008 was nixed.
Good news is that in December 2008 my doctor finally sent me to an orthopaedist, where I got to experience my first bone scan (to check for a stress fracture in the femur) and an MRI (to examine the lumbar region of my back). My leg bones and even my knees are in great shape.
Bad news #2 is that when the ortho doc looked at my MRI results, he had to double-check my age - he said my back looks like it's 50 years old! All three discs between L3 and S1 have varying degrees of damage and the L4-L5 disc is bulging against a main nerve. That nerve runs through my hamstring, down the outside of my calf and to the top of my foot. It was my back causing the hamstring pain all along, and it's quite likely I never had any problem with the hamstring itself! Holy cow.
So it's been a few months of PT on the back, which is getting better but still frequently painful; sadly, the PT thinks this is about as good as it will get. When I asked him when I'll be ready for marathons and ultramarathons again, he didn't seem very optimistic. He says I can't go back to "running every day" or "logging lots of miles" so we'll have to see how well I can recover before I think about big races again.
During PT to keep myself in shape without running, I took up swimming. Yes, swimming! While I do know to play in a lake and more or less stay afloat, I've only once tried to swim for distance: back in 1999 in Germany a friend and I swam across a lake and I barely made it, flopping ashore with cramped feet and arms.
Now I'm more efficient; it's amazing how much of an improvement it can be to go from "wanker" to "beginner"! It's still difficult to go more than a couple laps without a brief pause - my HR is usually 160-170, whereas for slow running it would be 140-150. At least if I ever want to try a triathlon, I have a chance of surviving the first leg!
Nevertheless, what am I going to do without running as a primary hobby? I can still run - and have gone running a few times for 2-3 miles in the past month - but will I ever get to attempt a 100K again? A few years ago I figured I'd take up running while still young with the plan that in my 50s I could get back into flying. Now that my back is 50 years old perhaps it's time to fly now? Unfortunately, my 50-year-old back still has a 32-year-old back pocket that doesn't hold enough dough for an expensive hobby just yet.
It seems so long ago that I had plans to run the Bayshore Marathon in 3:45 followed by finishing the 100K... that was just last year!
Comments
That sucks. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't run.
I would definitely get a second opinion from a doctor who runs, as suggested by Haliku. In our sedentary society, I've found that most doctors do not understand what we do and why we do it. They find it easier to prescribe an anti-inflammatory medication and tell us to stop running.
Also, there are a lot of misconceptions about what kind of damage running can inflict upon the body. Misconceptions such as "running is bad for the knees." Although runners often succumb to overuse injuries, these rarely lead to long-term damage. Running can certainly unmask pre-existing injuries. However, the literature is weak to non-existent regarding running causing osteoarthritis. (Check out Tim Noake's book "The Lore of Running").
Also, don't get too discouraged about bulging discs. Many people have backs that look awful on imaging studies and yet have no pain. Others have severe pain with mild to no deformaties. Don't forget that your back is exactly as old as you are, not a day more. We all will eventually experience wear and tear due to living on a planet with gravity and using our bodies to their fullest- but that doesn't mean we must completely stop doing the activities we love.
Don't give up hope yet and especially not until you get a second, or even a third, opinion.
In the meantime, I agree that swimming is great exercise. I can run 7 or 10 hours without a second thought but am exhausted after only a half hour in the water! Much of that is because I am such an inefficient swimmer and mostly I just splash around a lot.
Good luck!
My suggestion would be to ask your current doc for a recommendation then take a copy of the xrays to the new appointment. If he doesn't have one then I'd worry. Otherwise check with friends, medical plan, co-workers for options. Then tell the new doc why you are there and what you are looking to do in life so he understands where you are coming from. My two cents but I'm not the doc...eh Ultra?
Good luck.