Road to Recovery

I have been suffering from an unknown injury for around 6 months. I suspect I picked it up in the month of June 2013 after being very VERY active. In addition to my usual monthly 100+ miles of running and cycling, I took part in a Tough Mudder (12-mile cross country assault course) and walked up Ben Nevis (Britain's biggest hill). 

July was an extremely frustrating month because I continued to try and exercise but found that my left leg (specifically the quad, glute and groin) exhausted very quickly. I didn't take the hint my body was trying to give and kept trying to push through the pain. The pain and tightness, quite unsurprisingly, got worse and eventually, it not only stopped me from being able to exercise it even restricted my day to day mobility.

I visited my GP to get to the bottom of the problem - thinking it may be a hernia or some kind of core injury. I requested a referral so I could get a scan privately but my GP disagreed and instead I ended up taking a ton of blood and urine tests to rule out any potential -and very sinister- organ related problems. This was a nerve-racking time, but who am I to argue with a doctor?

The various blood tests I took came back clear, which was a relief, but traces of blood and protein was found in my urine sample. The doctor eventually referred me for a kidney and liver scan. At this point, I really started to worry, mostly because I am quite fond of beer or two (or twelve) and -morally- I wouldn't have a leg to stand if either of those blessed organs decided to check out early. Working as a kidney or a liver over the past 20 years in my body must have been akin to working at Chernobyl -before, during and after the meltdown. 

My kidney and liver scan came back normal!!! -aside from a very small kidney stone which accounted for the urine anomaly. You have no idea how relieved I was at this point. However, regardless of how proud I may have been of my 'industrial sized inners' at that point in time, it still left me without a diagnosis and the same old unexplained pains. 

My doctor finally concedes that I may have a mechanical problem (as I originally expected) and referred me to a sports injury specialist who quickly identifies the areas that are tight and sets me up with a physiotherapy program. Several months go by and the program is working - in so much that it helped relieve the pain. However, this pain relief was only temporary and by the end of every day, the pain and tightness would be back.

I go back to the doctor, who decides to point out that I have put on a lot of weight since the beginning of the year and that my blood pressure was dangerously high.

If I may borrow an age-old and very wise expression... No sh*t Sherlock! I have been out with an injury for over 4 months and in that time I have been on 6 stag do's and took part in zero exercises. This was the very definition of kicking a man while he was down. After some debate, my GP referred me to a back specialist who organised for me to have an MRI scan on my back and hip areas. 

Low and behold - I am diagnosed with an anterior labral tear of the hip which is completely consistent with the pain and symptoms I described. FINALLY! :) The relief of a diagnosis after 6 months of inactivity and anxious waiting was indescribable - despite the fact that a long road to recovery awaits me! 

So, the road to recovery...

I have an appointment with a consultant on Monday to find out and agree upon my treatment options - which are likely to be a combination of physio and injections or surgery. I will leave this to the specialists to help me decide but frankly, I am just pleased to be working toward a recovery -even if it is likely to take 6-12 months. 

In the meantime, I have the small problem of weight gain to deal with. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I was in fairly good condition at the start of the year. I weighed in at 88kgs (195lbs or 13st 9lbs), was sub 15% body fat, running sub 8-minute miles (over 10 miles) and still managing to maintain a fairly good power to weight ratio (130kg bench, 180kg Squat & 200kg deadlift). I was also working successfully toward a sub-7-minute mile -long distance- running pace and trying to achieve circa 10% body fat.

I realise now that I obviously pushed my body too hard and too fast. This initially disheartened me but I am now more philosophical about the challenge that lays before me. 

Just after christmas, I was tipping the scales at 104kgs (230lbs or 16st 4lbs).. I haven't bothered to measure my body fat :) but it doesn't take a genius to work out that its around 28% (from using the numbers above). I am not going to dwell on why this happened (it's pretty obvious) but one thing is for sure, I have to lose some weight and get my blood pressure in check - without exercising! It would be easy to make excuses at this point but I have decided to look at the tools I have an available to me and devise an appropriate plan. 

I plan to shift 9kgs (19lbs or 1st 5lbs) by the end of March 2014. That's shifting roughly a 1.5lbs per week. I have two tools available to me help achieve this goal - diet and walking (limited). 

Enter my old friends myfitnesspal and fitbit... I won't go into too much detail about these tools or my specific diet/exercise plan, as I will review them in a separate blog, but suffice to say I am already making progress. In a little over a week, I have dropped 3.1kgs (7lbs or half a stone) and have done so by controlling what I eat (and drink) and walking the dog twice a day. 

The weight loss isn't the significant point I am making, the significant point is my mindset. I have transitioned from feeling like a victim of circumstance to a man who has accepted those circumstances and devised a viable plan. I woke up this morning looking forward to carefully measuring out my porridge, blueberries and skimmed milk then logging it with myfitness pal. 

This may seem strange or a little sad to someone who can control their weight simply through exercising more but when you can't exercise more, you have to focus on the only thing you can control - diet.

For the next 6 months, my control point will be my diet and my exercise will take the form of discipline and routine.

Wish me luck and I will keep you posted. Thanks for reading,

Chancey (AKA Chunky)