KestrelBike
01-06-2013, 16:44
I'm in need of an awesome physical therapist. The area of my lower right calf is in some pretty bad pain. Heat/massage: workout: icing helps alleviate some of the pain but does not allow me to even jog down the block. I have always stretched religiously both before and after each workout, being careful not to overstretch muscles.
Short Story: I love to run/jog, but can't get down the street without agonizing pain. If I could write a check for $1,000 and have it cured, I'd do it in a second. Don't want to pay that for unknown results, though.
The long back story: I'm only about 15-20lbs overweight, at around 5'10 and 180lbs. About 3-4 years, I was jogging and my right calf suddenly stiffened up to the point that I had to limp-walk it back home. Luckily my work back then had insurance for me, and I went to the doctor, paid him $200 for him to refer me after 3min to an orthopedic guy who charged me $200 after 5min to go to a physical therapist (but not before referring me for an ultrasound on my calf, who then charged me $1,000 after rubbing my leg with a wand for 15min... none of that obviously came close to my $2,800 deductible). The physical therapist was decent, and got me able to jog 10min on the treadmill without pain, but at that point my insurance ran out (not sure how the fuck how since I was paying $350 out of pocket every week for a couple months) and I was "discharged". I feel like my leg was never truly better and I was rolling the dice each time I went out for a jog. ****anyways****, fast forward to the past year and I've been able to go for careful 20-30min jogs, but never two days in a row or my calf would start to get sore to the point where I felt like I was going to strain it. In the meantime I swim, or ride my bike, or even go on the elliptical.
Last week, I went for a casual jog and within 10min, my calf seized up and I had to walk home, and it was agony trying to walk anywhere for the rest of the day. I've taken it easy since then until yesterday when I was going up the stairs and felt like I ripped the damn thing in half. I have resolved to take this back to a doctor/physical therapist, but don't want to pay another $2,000 out of pocket for it not to be fixed. So if anyone knows of an AWESOME physical therapist, please let me know! At this point I'm thinking it's either a very deep tear, or it's tendonitis, or something else. The affected area seems to move around but overwhelmingly it feels bad right around the Soleus, or right around the bottom of the calf where all the tendons are.
My background: I'm around 30 years old, and ran cross country/T&F in high school and college and kept in *ok* shape since then. I've had my share of injuries like any other dedicated runner (achilles tendonitis, shin splints galore, hamstrings, quads, hernias, etc) and have either run through them, or the school's trainer helped me to heal & train out of them. I feel like I know what kinds of pain can be run through, and what will just lead to further debilitating injury. Sorry for rambling, thanks for reading!!
Short Story: I love to run/jog, but can't get down the street without agonizing pain. If I could write a check for $1,000 and have it cured, I'd do it in a second. Don't want to pay that for unknown results, though.
The long back story: I'm only about 15-20lbs overweight, at around 5'10 and 180lbs. About 3-4 years, I was jogging and my right calf suddenly stiffened up to the point that I had to limp-walk it back home. Luckily my work back then had insurance for me, and I went to the doctor, paid him $200 for him to refer me after 3min to an orthopedic guy who charged me $200 after 5min to go to a physical therapist (but not before referring me for an ultrasound on my calf, who then charged me $1,000 after rubbing my leg with a wand for 15min... none of that obviously came close to my $2,800 deductible). The physical therapist was decent, and got me able to jog 10min on the treadmill without pain, but at that point my insurance ran out (not sure how the fuck how since I was paying $350 out of pocket every week for a couple months) and I was "discharged". I feel like my leg was never truly better and I was rolling the dice each time I went out for a jog. ****anyways****, fast forward to the past year and I've been able to go for careful 20-30min jogs, but never two days in a row or my calf would start to get sore to the point where I felt like I was going to strain it. In the meantime I swim, or ride my bike, or even go on the elliptical.
Last week, I went for a casual jog and within 10min, my calf seized up and I had to walk home, and it was agony trying to walk anywhere for the rest of the day. I've taken it easy since then until yesterday when I was going up the stairs and felt like I ripped the damn thing in half. I have resolved to take this back to a doctor/physical therapist, but don't want to pay another $2,000 out of pocket for it not to be fixed. So if anyone knows of an AWESOME physical therapist, please let me know! At this point I'm thinking it's either a very deep tear, or it's tendonitis, or something else. The affected area seems to move around but overwhelmingly it feels bad right around the Soleus, or right around the bottom of the calf where all the tendons are.
My background: I'm around 30 years old, and ran cross country/T&F in high school and college and kept in *ok* shape since then. I've had my share of injuries like any other dedicated runner (achilles tendonitis, shin splints galore, hamstrings, quads, hernias, etc) and have either run through them, or the school's trainer helped me to heal & train out of them. I feel like I know what kinds of pain can be run through, and what will just lead to further debilitating injury. Sorry for rambling, thanks for reading!!