A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned briefly in passing devoted a whole blog post to the subject of my knee, which was throwing a wobbly. The upshot of this was that I promised faithfully that I would seek out a physio to ask for advice. I don’t want to put my April marathon in doubt, after all.*
When I met Fortnight Flo on New Year’s Eve, she asked what the physio had said. Sheepishly, I confessed that I hadn’t made an appointment. The look on her face said it all, so today I summoned up my courage, rang up the physio and made an appointment for Friday afternoon.
But.
The physio’s parting shot when I said “of course my knee isn’t actually hurting at the moment, does that matter?” was “not at all, but if I were you, I wouldn’t run on it until Friday, when we’ll have worked out what the problem is”.
Now, I’m fully intending to follow the physio’s advice to the letter once he’s assessed me and given me his verdict** but do I, or do I not pay attention to his instruction not to run until Friday? I mean, since the pre-Christmas flare up, I’ve run 5 parkruns, one 11 mile race and climbed up umpteen steps, all without incident.*** So would three small runs around the block in the spirit of Janathon really be so harmful?
*Actually, this is a lie. I very much want an excuse that will get me out of having to train for this. I just don’t want it to be self-inflicted injury because where’s the fun in that?
**This is another lie. If it involves skipping parkruns, all bets are off.
***And another. It did flare up mildly after the first of those parkruns, but since then, nothing!
abradypus 
I love you lies.
Do some very steady block runs I say.
“*your* lies” even
Be honest with your physio, and don’t be afraid to set them a challenge, on your terms. Tell them that you plan to run on Friday, and would like their advice on the best way to go about it. A good “runners” physio might say: “Ideally, don’t run until XYZ; but if you must, then avoid sprinting/downhills/running for more than 30mins, and make sure you do this warm up exercise.”
I’ve picked a physio who specialises in sports injuries, so I’m hoping that if I follow your sage advice he will be accommodating.
HA! I have a doctor’s appt. mid-month & am already dreading it. Why do doctors rarely say what we want to hear, which is something like “Oh, no worries, just continue doing whatever you want! I’ll just wave this magic wand over it & you’ll be instantly good as new!” Good luck on Friday!
How about cross training for Janathon. That way you keep the physio happy and still keep up with the Janathon challenge.
Best I stay quiet, I think…i’m good at injuries. Mostly best at obtaining them, though! So I definitely won’t say it’s Janathon and all good physios like a challenge. Oh, no. And on the quiet, I think Gary’s right…
I’d say continue to run, but run easy.
My Physio never told me not to run (even when I could barely hobble) just to always keep it very slow and easy and only when pain free.
Mine told me that he hates two things – telling women not to wear heels and telling runners not to run. I rested til my initial assessment (mainly because it hurt) and then took it easy as pain allowed. The important thing to remember is that physios can be terrifying and always know when you’re lying (says the daughter of one).
Unless I can count a fifty yard dash for a bus, I appear to have opted for the exercise version of Janathon as I swapped today’s run for some planks, side planks and other assorted core exercises.
Think that was a wise call. Hope the outcome on Friday is a good one 🙂
It won’t matter what I say so instead I’ll tell a standard physio-related joke…
How many physiotherapists does it take to change a light bulb?
None. They just give the dead bulb some exercises to do and hope it will be working a bit better the next time they see it.
😉
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Hallelujah! I hope its good news