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Yipes! My Hip Hurts!

04.02.2014 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

I dunno. I must be getting old. About a month ago, I started to feel it. Whenever I came back from a bike ride, I felt great. I stretched, showered, and changed, then sat down — maybe for a meal, maybe to watch a little TV, maybe to noodle on this blog.

And when I stood up again — Yow! My left hip hurt like a sonuvagun.

It didn’t take long to get rid of the pain. I just walked it off, stepping around the house or outside a bit. But it persisted. Whenever I sat down for any length of time, I could count on the ache — soreness –hurt — when I got up again.

I was at the doctor’s on a routine visit, when I brought it up. “Could be arthritis,” was the guess. “Take anti-inflammatories — Aleve, Ibuprofen.”

“What about glucosamine-chondroitin?” I asked.

“Well, that might work,” she said. “Try it if you want. Some people say it’s good.”

My wife is one of those who do. But I haven’t gone that route yet. In fact, I’ve noticed the pain isn’t as bad lately. Partly, that’s because the Aleve really works well.

“You took two Aleve?” asked my wife, incredulous. “The dose is only one.”

“Yeah, worked good,” I said. “Rode the bike for two hours, and I haven’t felt any soreness all day.”

Well, it’s not all gone yet. I still get a twinge when I stand. But all I need to do is walk down the hall, and it shakes out. I think I won’t panic for the time being.

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Categories // soreness Tags // Injury, pain

Slow Recovery

03.24.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 14 Comments

It’s been a disappointing week. I thought I had been making a good comeback from my fall two weeks ago. Last Sunday, I did an easy 32-mile ride with no bad consequences. But Monday, I developed some pains in my side.

I had been having these feelings pretty much since the fall, but they were minor. I mostly concentrated on that huge bruise I blogged about last week, and then a hip pointer made itself known. Football players (American football) and hockey players get these, from banging the point of their pelvis bones against something hard. Most of the time, it’s not there, but when I bend my left leg a certain way, the pain is enough to make me jump.

Then on Tuesday, I decided to do my after work ride. It’s a 19-20 mile jaunt through my neighborhood. This time, as soon as I got on the bike, I could feel that pain in my side again. It feels as though something under my ribs is bruised, and if I bend at the waist a certain way, it’s quite painful.

On the bike Tuesday, that ache was with me throughout the ride. Instead of 19 miles, I cut it short and did only 12.

“You should see the doc,” said my wife, when I told her what had happened.

Luckily, my doctor keeps evening hours on Wednesday, and booked me an appointment that evening. He’s always been supportive of my biking, because of the changes it’s made in such indicators as blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Of course, this is a negative effect.

He had me do some stretches, which didn’t hurt. He poked and prodded my sides, and found the quarter-sized spot on my left ribcage that triggered the pain. It’s where the rib meets cartilage, and he told me the cartilage is the damaged part.

“In my professional opinion,” he said, adopting a pedantic tone, “you’re banged up.”

There is nothing to be done. “Even if you had a broken rib, we wouldn’t do anything,” he said. “We’ve stopped wrapping ribs. It turns out that can cause pneumonia.”

He did recommend heat. And anti-inflammatories, which I’d already been taking. But it looks like it will be several weeks before the aches and pains go away.

I dug out the heating pad, and it does work. Saturday, I got on the bike and repeated the ride I had started Tuesday. This time, I did the whole 19 miles. My torso felt fine.

I rode again today. The only time it feels sore is when I stand to pedal up a hill, so I rode a mostly flat course. But I can ride without pain.

I’m looking forward to riding again Tuesday after work. My time in the saddle is really down this year. I’ve got some catching up to do.

 

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Categories // crash, Injury Tags // Injury

Biking Through a Bruise

03.15.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

My fingers next to the bruise give an idea of its size.
My fingers next to the bruise give an idea of its size.

I’m still feeling the effects of that fall I had a week ago. I’ve got the biggest bruise on my hip that I’ve ever had, and it was quite painful to start with. However, one nice aspect of our sport is that it seems to help in recovery from these kinds of injuries.

The crash was odd in that I wasn’t moving all that fast. In fact, I was just slowing to make a turn when the rear wheel slid out from under me. But the full force of the impact fell on my left hip. I must have hit the pavement a lot harder than it first seemed, because two days after the crash, I had trouble rising from a chair. It felt like the whole left torso was bruised as well, although I could find no marks.

How did I treat the big bruise? It turns out that I did everything wrong. The recommended treatment for a bruise is to stretch and ice the affected area after the workout. In my case, I felt so good after riding this week that I did nothing except shower. For pain, acetaminophen is the recommended treatment — not ibuprofen. I gobbled ibuprofen two or three times a day.

Sitting for awhile, while watching TV, exacerbated the pain. Moving eased it. Except for Sunday, the day after the crash, I have been on the bike every day — sometimes pushing myself to climb a small hill a little bit faster, or do some intervals. Without fail, I felt better once I got home.

In one regard, I was lucky. I wasn’t bruised anywhere that came into contact with the bike. So when I ride, I feel like a normal person. It’s only after I’ve been stationary for an hour or more that pain becomes a problem.

Bruises heal themselves in seven to 10 days. My bruise is still impressive, in terms of the area it covers, but I can tell the coloring is already starting to fade. I expect to be back to normal in another couple of days. But in the meantime, I think I’ve healed a little faster by exercising those muscles under the bruise than I would have if I’d done nothing.

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Categories // crash, Injury Tags // crash, Injury

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