That question has been haunting me of late with my recent injury. I did some quick math and it's been (roughly) 4 months since I first detected the injury, which comes out to (exactly) 106 days. If I am counting correctly, that's a little longer than I want to be injured.
But 106 days also seems disproportionate to the severity of the injury. Four plus months of recovery time for a strain? Really? How can this be? Wouldn't a broken leg heal faster?
Answer #1: Delayed diagnosis. Instead of seeing a doctor right away, or after a few days, or after a few weeks, or after a few months, I waited nearly four months to ask for help.
Lesson #1: We cannot always heal ourselves. Corollary: Sometimes we need to ask others for help in order to be healed.Answer #2: Delayed treatment. Because the diagnosis was delayed, so was the treatment. Instead of building on months of rehab, I just now crossed the starting line.
Lesson #2: Not all injuries heal themselves. Corollary: We need to be willing to do whatever it takes to be healed, if we want to be healed.The question above applies to areas outside of running too, I think.
5 comments:
Sorry to hear about your multi-dimensional injury, but glad you're on a course of healing. I empathize with you in your approach, for I too avoid doctors, now enduring an undiagnosed left calf injury for almost a year, and an undiagnosed shoulder injury for a month, a left foot problem - also for about a year, and undiagnosed issues in both elbows along with the right bicep (I think these are tendon issues). At some point these things should be addressed. But probably not today. Until then, pressing on.
In my experience, the more mild the injury is the harder it is to go see a doctor.
If injury is severe, most or all of one's daily activities will be affected so there is little hesitation. But some injuries really do heal by themselves, if given ample recovery time and proper encouragement. In those cases, a doctor can really only offer things which can be gotten elsewhere more affordably - emotional support, guidance on proper rest and recovery, etc.
In hindsight, a month of symptoms was probably worth a visit to the doctor in my case. But it is what it is. Pressing on with you.
At this point I would see a doctor if I had health insurance and/or money, seeing that my injuries are many and varied and not healing. At the same time, none of them keep me from training, though they do affect it. I miss most my chiropractor who treated the most severe of my infirmities - lower back, which I didn't mention earlier,(water skiing incident from 2004). Wrestling with that beast is a losing battle. Apparently I am old now and wearing down a bit.
Yes, health insurance is certainly a factor in the decision to see a doctor - especially if any sort of testing is expected. I was much more inclined to live with things under my previous employer where the insurance was not as good as it is now.
I now share your admiration for a good chiropractor. I used to be skeptical of their usefulness, but after having a couple issues this year (the recent twisted pelvis, upper back/neck pain over the summer) I've concluded that they are invaluable. The one I've been going to has been so helpful that I almost want to have a monthly check-up just to work towards preventing any future misalignment. I didn't realize how affecting improper alignment is for the body.
11+ years is quite a while to be battling an issue. If your other issues have been going on for a while too, I wonder if they are now connected to each other in some ways too. I think if I had not pursued engineering, I should have pursued some sort of specialty medical field. The longer I'm alive, the more I see how valuable and practical medical knowledge is. May the Lord make a change to your situation to, among other things, allow for affordable medical care.
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