Waiting and worrying

Five days now since my cortisone shot. Th initial numbing medication has worn off and now I am waiting to see if a more sustained improvement will actually happen. Thus far, I am not all too hopeful as I still clearly feel some pain deep inside my joint. Meanwhile, I also had my last physical therapy session for the time being with my awesome therapist Wing.

A bit of needling

The last couple of weeks have mostly been annoying. As soon as I felt some minor improvements in my hip, just as soon came the setback with more pain and discomfort than before. And the last week, any training practically become impossible. Even working out at the gym became a burden and at times a bit painful.

So for today I finally had my cortisone shot scheduled at the Hospital for joint diseases at NYU. The treatment itself (injecting the cortisone directly into the hip joint under xray guidance) was fairly painless, and even now, hours later, I feel little discomfort. Now the big question: Will the drug work to bring the inflammation down significantly over the next week or so, and if yes, for how long?

FAI, or 'femoroacetabular impingement'

In short, an impingement of my right hip joint and early/mild signs of osteoarthritis have been keeping me off running and most other serious training now for a couple of months. I have now seen a great physical therapist a sports medic and a hip specialist at the NYU Hospital for Joint Disease. The good news, everyone is in complete agreement as to the diagnosis and (almost) in agreement as to the course of action. The bad news: It is not a pretty picture. Physical therapy has increased my range of motion in my right hip, but has not alleviated all the pain. Next up, a cortison injection into the hip joint. Lovely can't wait. If that works, I will slowly get back into a more serious training regimen. If it does not, arthroscopic hip surgery

Why am I even back on this blog?

It's been way over two years since I last wrote an entry into this blog. Life has a way of getting in the way of blog updates, Facebook has practically replaced my need to keep this form of a diary, and my triathlon ambitions have taken a backseat to fatherhood, my career and other fun pursuits. This is not to say that I have been inactive over the last couple of years, in fact I have had a couple of great races, joined a new Tri Club (Brooklyn Triathlon Club) and am still very intrigued by the prospect of managing a PR in a tri or run race even at my age (now 47).