Running Injury, Dry Needling, and Cupping

Having a running injury that doesn’t appear to be getting that much better really is tough. I know I need to have more patience, but that is so hard when all I really want to do is run. 4-6 weeks is what I was told. Could be longer.  I consulted the calendar to see how much longer I had to go and realized it has only been 6 days! Ugh! Although, as I mentioned in my last post, I have been injured since the 1st of March, but my PT has put restrictions on running since I started seeing him about a week ago.  But, I have been doing some exercises that the PT has prescribed which include:

• Heel raises (lowering heel on a stair)  10 reps x 2 sets with the last one held for 10 seconds
• Tippy Twist (that is what I am calling them because they are similar to an exercise featured in the book Running Rewired) 10 reps x 2 sets  Standing on both feet move into Warrior III  like yoga pose then rotate hip outward, then inward, return to starting position.
• Knee extension (lying on your back, foot in the air, bend knee 90 degrees and return to starting position) 10 reps x 2 sets I keep the other leg bent with foot flat on the floor while I am doing this exercise.
• Foam rolling back of legs and thighs
• Stationary cycling 20 minutes with low (easy) resistance.

I have also been doing some precision running form exercises from the book Running Rewired by Jay Dicharry in preparation to return to running. More on those exercises and book in another post coming soon.

I can’t really tell if the PT exercises and biking are helping at all at this point. At times, I wonder if they are making things worse. Sometimes I think I should just not do anything at all and see what happens. It’s frustrating.

I went to a second physical therapy appointment on Thursday of this past week which was quite interesting. The therapist wanted to do dry needling. Yes! Whatever that is. I’ll do anything to get better so I can run, right? Let me tell you, that procedure freaked me out.

First, dry needling is inserting a needle into a trigger point area of the muscle to release that muscle so that it can function normally. Injured muscles can have some scarring at the cellular level that can prevent them from working properly. This procedure can also reduce pain as well. What freaked me out about it was the muscle started twitching like crazy a few seconds after the needle was inserted.  It didn’t really hurt, it just felt weird. And that is the result the therapist wanted. It would have been nice to prepare me for that one 🙂 He did this to a few areas on my hamstring and thigh muscle. Deep breathing helped to get through the procedure!

In addition, he did cupping around the knee and thigh. Cupping is where a cup like apparatus is applied to the skin with suction in order to relieve pain, break up scar tissue, and increase blood flow to the area. I have had this procedure done before during a massage and it was the most uncomfortable procedure. It also left huge circular bruises over my legs where it was applied (remember Michael Phelps, I was wondering what happened, now I know). I did not like it at all. I told this therapist about my experience with cupping so he did it pretty lightly. No bruising.

I am not sure how effective either of these therapies are. Maybe several treatments are needed to get good results. However, I did walk out of my appointment limping less than when I walked in. I have another appointment on Tuesday. I just hope something feels better by then.

In the meantime, I decided to buy some new running shoes! Healing therapy! Shoe therapy!  Lets just hope that one day I will be able to run in them. 🙂

And an added bonus to this post, these guys will soon be the proud parents of my third grandchild. Can’t wait!! 35 + weeks!!

🙂