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July 26, 2005
Favorite Doctor
I intended to run this morning but woke up and was having anxiety about work so went right in instead. That is usually the best thing for me to do when I am stressing out about my workload-get right to it so I can start crossing things off the to do list.
I left work early to go see my favorite sports doc. As I posted about earlier this year, I am pretty unsatisfied with the sports doc I have been seeing who is in my limited plan at school. My DC doc has always been pretty helpful and has a treatment style more to my liking-aggressive (orthotics, PT, MRIs) rather than the conservative (rest up) treatment my doc in Boston always proscribes. I made this appointment when my Achilles was bothering me a few weeks ago. Earlier this year and more recently it has been bothering me when I get to around 15-18 mpw. Since pain in my Achilles (only slight) was a precursor to my calf strain in April I decided to make an appointment. Well, suffice to say, in the time since I made the appointment and today I cut back on my running to rest for the tri and it feels fine. I kept the appointment though to discuss my chronic knee stuff and how my Achilles has been niggling for a while. I kind of just wanted an opinion from this guy since I have always liked him in the past.
Verdict, I am okay. He thinks I will be fine and should be able to train as much as I would like. He thinks I should work on strengthening my quads more as well as my Achilles. He says this is the perfect time to work on strengthening since I don’t have an acute injury or too much pain in either location. So he proscribed PT-and coincidently his group has a new PT office they just started that they referred me to. I actually don’t think the worst though :) He proscribed PT for me earlier in my running career BEFORE they owned their own PT office. However, my health insurance plan won’t cover PT in DC, and it’s QUITE pricey to pay out of pocket. I know, I should probably take care of myself BEFORE I get hurt, but I just can’t bring myself to spend a whole lot of money (and time) when I feel okay. Even if I went for one visit and they taught me what I should be doing on my own that would be $165-$200. I draw the line on the exercise craziness here. Also, I can’t squat b/c it hurts my knees. I just wanted to check in with the doc and see if that was an indicator of a huge problem or not. He didn’t seem that alarmed by it.
I do value this guy’s optimism though that I will be okay and I don’t appear to have any huge biomechanical issues he picked up. THAT is just nice to hear.
Then I went from his office straight to the gym and ran 5K (29:00) on the treadmill b/c it is 95ish degrees here. See…I don’t need PT!!! I hit up a fourth Washington Sports Club-the one Downtown on M Street. For those keeping track, this one is not as good.
Posted by Audrey at July 26, 2005 07:12 PM
Comments
Sorry it's a little late - but I wanted to say congrats on your triathlon! That's awesome - you did so well and you're all in one piece. What more could you ask for? I really admire you for even TRYING one! Hope the recovery goes well!
Posted by: Beth at July 26, 2005 08:02 PM
My experience with WSC: gtwon, 19 and K and the one in Chinatown are the best since they are also the newest. I like the Dupont one near the Hilton too, I guess I was used to that one since it's the one I always went to. The one on M is probably the worst (at least from the ones I went to).
Have you tried doing squats with a stability ball on your back and that against a wall? It's usually an easy way to go about it that takes the weight of your knees.
Posted by: Nanda at July 27, 2005 12:11 PM