Thursday: Doctor's Visit

I haven't done much since the half marathon. I have tried to run a little bit, but I think the half seriously pushed me over as far as recovery is concerned. I felt much more stiff and sore after the half than I did after either Ironman.

I went to the doctor today for a second visit to check out my shins. I went last week as well and he suspected that I might have chronic compartment syndrome, which he thinks is causing the pain and preventing me from really running. I went back today to do a formal test.

The test was a little painful. The doctor first numbs up each leg by giving local anesthetics. Ouch! Seriously painful. He then inserts a needle in each of the four compartments (the deep posterior, the superficial posterior, the anterior, and the lateral) of each leg to test the their pressures at rest. Still seriously painful even with the anesthetic. Blood was pouring down everywhere.

After bandaging up the leg, the doctor then had me run on a treadmill until I started to feel the pain in my shins. Now that I was running and my heart was pumping, blood was soaking through the bandages so it looked like I had some serious injuries going on. It was pretty nasty, yet somewhat cool. Having the doctor continually increase the pace and the incline with bandages around my leg, I started to feel like I was Ivan Drago in Rocky IV.

I never really felt the pain that I normally do when I can't run, but after 20 minutes--if the pain doesn't happen within the first 20 minutes or so, it doesn't happen--I got off the treadmill and the doctor tested the pressure again by inserting needles in each compartment. Still painful and blood all over the place.

The pressure in the anterior compartments tested abnormally high, which unfortunately means I probably have exertional anterior compartment syndrome. The pressue is probably even higher when I feel the pain I usually do that reduces me to a walk.

The only treatment really is to have surgery or not to train as much. I was very impressed with how much the doctor knew about compartment syndrome and sports and sports injuries. So it seems like I probably have it.

Having said that, I would prefer not to have surgery, so I'm going to take some time to think about my options and get a second opinion. Apparently after the surgery, I won't be able to run for 6 weeks, won't be able to swim for 3-4 weeks, and won't be able to bike for 2-3 weeks, which I would need to factor into my training program. So I may start training consistently again a little sooner than I really feel like.