Friday 24 February 2012

Hammy the Hamstring visits the osteopath

Yesterday's appointment with Claudio left me feeling more than a bit despondent.  My self-diagnosis of a hamstring strain was, unfortunately, correct.  Claudio didn't seem entirely surprised by it; apparently I am so out of balance, misaligned, and inflexible that it's a miracle that I can manage to even walk without doing myself an injury.  (Mmm, I might be slightly exaggerating there.)  It was a cheery session.

I was pummelled, stretched, cracked, and stretched some more, and was given yet more stretches to do at home.  Claudio approved of my plan of not running until Sunday and advised not running more than 10 miles on the day assuming, of course, that I can walk without pain by then.  He wasn't overtly discouraging about whether I'll be able to 1) run the Inverness Half-Marathon on 11 March and 2) run the London Marathon on 22 April but I did get the impression that the Half is a 'probably not' and London is a 'we'll see.'

The session ended with me limping slowly away, Claudio's admonition of 'Be Cautious!' ringing in my ears. 

I'm feeling a bit better today, though, emotionally as well as physically.  I've managed to do my stretches, go to the chemist and the post office, and go for a walk with the cat (it's a sad state of affairs when keeping up with the cat is a cause for celebration), none of which have caused pain.  I figure that, even if I need to take a whole week (or even two) off from running, I'll still have enough time to get in my remaining long runs before the taper for London. 

I'm trying to be optimistic.  All will be well, and that includes my hamstring.
This is a flexible hamstring. Unlike mine.

2 comments:

  1. Be optimistic... I've been through the 'Claudio experience' too and he does wonders, so keep those fingers crossed... not the toes obviously!

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  2. I think that in the long term, Claudio's restructuring of my body will make me a better runner; whether that will happen in time for London is questionable. I'm going to try to run tomorrow, though - fingers crossed, indeed!

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