I did manage to run away for 11 days to paradise, also known as Costa Rica, in February! It was an amazing trip and I had so much fun! My friend and I mixed in an adventure with a nature discovery trip! We did zip-lining in the cloud forest, canopy tour in the rain forest, rappelling down waterfalls and canyons, surfing, natural hot springs, snorkeling, nature watching tours, and various hikes! It was spectacular! Pura Vida!!! :)
Two days after I came back I had another appointment with the sports doc and I went ahead with the PRP injection. What exactly is PRP? Well here is a little info about it: PRP is platelet rich plasma injection. Blood was taken from me and was sent to be spun down to a high concentration of platelets. This was then injected into my proximal hamstring under ultrasound guidance. I asked the U/S tech if he could see the tear that the MRI picked up and he could not. But he could see the whole injured area which was inflammed and showed as a black area on the U/S. The platelets are a bioactive component of blood and when activated in the body they release growth factors and morphologic hormones that stimulate healing and tissue regeneration. The belief is that these bioactive proteins stimulate stem cells to recruit repairing cells. It also reduces the inflammatory response to inhibit scar tissue and enable the tendon to heal with proper cell structure. Apparently PRP works really well for tendon injuries so I am really hoping for the best. And the healing phase takes 8-12 weeks from the time of injection. I am currently into my fourth week right now. It almost sounds like a Lance Armstrong thing, haha! From some internet research, football and soccer players often take this route, even including Tiger Woods, Alex Rodriguez, and Kobe Bryant with success.
The injection itself was not painful. I was told I would have a "full" feeling for a few days. Ok, it was more an intensely painful feeling instead of "full"! Lol! The minute I stood up I was in a world of pain! I did not expect to be in that much pain. I could barely put weight on my leg and walking was sooo painful. I was limping for about 5 days and then the pain subsided. I am still in pain walking but at least I am not limping. I am not allowed to take any anti-inflammatories for several weeks. Right now I am back into a rehab program doing exercises everyday and seeing my good ol' chiro weekly for treatments to continue breaking down the scar tissue. Right now I cannot tell if this worked. I am in not as much pain since the injection but I am not better than before! I am doing my rehab exercises pretty intensely and maybe pushing myself a little much in desperation to get better! I am back on the trainer and I am up to 2hr rides!!! :) I was always able to continue swimming but I got the hook for yoga which I am immensely missing! :( I haven't been to yoga since mid February. Boo! I have a follow up with the doc in two weeks to see if I will need another injection. And to tell you the truth, I do not know what I want to do. If I do another injection, it is another 8-12 weeks of recovery and probably no running. I am still setting my eyes on Ironman in August. So I do not want to throw away a 2nd injection if I plan on training/racing the IM since each shot is $600. I would have to do this properly since it is a lot of money!
In the meantime, I signed up for another Masters swim meet on Apr 20th so I have something to work hard towards and I can get back into good swim shape. Since I am not practicing yoga which I used as my core and strengthening workout, I found a pretty good core routine that I am set on doing everyday! It is: 50 sit-ups, 15 push-ups, 1min plank, 30sec plank on each side, 1min bridge, 15 push-ups, 1min plank, 30sec plank on each side, 50 sit-ups, 1min high plank, 2min bridge, 50 sit-ups. Hopefully this daily routine will get my core back into tip-top shape! Hehe! I am on day five and so far so good! I throw in variations here and there to make in interesting. This way, hopefully when I get the ok to start running I will already be in pretty good shape and closer to race weight since I let myself go a little bit!
So that is pretty much what is happening now. Hoping for my hammy to recover!
Thanks for reading! Here is a pic of my new fav sport, if running fails maybe I can become a surfer girl! ;)
