A Work of ART

I returned to Oasis to see Dr. Rich yesterday and got about half an hour’s worth of ART. He worked on both hips, both hamstrings, both calves, my right quad, and my left shoulder. Of all of them, my shoulder was the most painful and seems to be the most problematic area at this point. My hips actually seemed pretty good. I commented that the ART didn’t hurt near as bad as it did, and Dr. Rich said he couldn’t feel as much scar tissue as the past couple times. He also said he could tell I’ve been doing my strengthening exercises because I’ve actually got some muscle around the bone now whereas I had none before. He said that when you had no muscle there like I did, it was a sign that things had been shut down for quite a while. All in all he feels like I’m making good progress and wants to see me again in 3 weeks or so after I’ve hopefully had a chance to run some.

That leads me into the recap of last night’s run. It went ok, better than any of my attempts last week. It wasn’t completely pain free, but it was close. My hamstring was a little balky, and I felt a twinge or two in my hip here and there, but for the most part it was pretty good. Also, I don’t know if it’s the ART, exercises, work on my form, or what, but my stride felt more open and bouncier than it has in a while, including prior to the injury. I hope that’s a good sign, because if I can open up my stride and get a little more bounce/power to it, it sure will make running fast easier. In any event, I’ve got a long way to go and I’m not even close to being out of the woods yet, but I’m definitely making progress. The next couple days will be key in determining whether I’m ready to resume training or still need a little more time off. I’m gonna be cautious and hope it’s the former not the latter, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it doesn’t take a little while longer to make it over the top.