MRI Results

Unfortunately, for the 2 months before the Wisconsin Marathon (May 1), my knees started to hurt.  I managed through it, but I don't think that I had a run without pain during these 2 months.  Rest and ice baths helped, so looking back I was extremely fortunate to have actually completed the marathon.  As one of my friends said "you got lucky".  I also know now that I was lucky not to hurt myself more.  Live and learn.

So, I saw a doctor the Monday after the marathon and got XRays and MRIs of both knees and legs.

Here were the results:

Right Leg -
1.  Xray - No stress fracture in my right leg (I thought 50/50 I had one, although it did show thickening of the bone which indicates that I may have had one in the past).  Good news.  The xrays of both of my knees were completely normal.

2.  MRI - Right Knee

• (1) severe IT band syndrome in my right knee (I have had this before and can fix it via physical therapy, ice, rest, elevation, and anti inflammatories).  Despite the fact that I roll out my IT bands everyday, I still had this injury, and my physical therapist said that it will likely take 6-8 weeks for me to fully recover.
• (2) arthritis in the knee (I have had this in the past)
• (3) a small Baker's cyst behind the right knee (unexpected but it is small and doesn't really bother me, so nothing to do with it).
• Right knee bottom line - everything is fixable, no major problems.

3.  MRI - Left Knee

• (1) Bursitis behind my knee around my medial gastroc (I thought I had a gastroc strain, so this was good news).
• (2) A very large ganglion cyst behind my left knee (over 3 cm by 3 cm large). These occur normally in people (and I have a history of cysts in my body due to my Crohn's disease), but this cysts (non cancerous) is pushing under some tendons and around the bone and is really bothering me
• I am having this cyst drained tomorrow (5/27).  I'm told that I will feel better almost immediately.

After the marathon, I took 5 days off in a row and then ran 5 miles (8:18 pace), then 10 miles the next day (8:58 pace). During my 10 mile run, I felt good for the first 7 miles, but for the last 3 miles my right knee and leg were really hurting, so when I got done, I decided to shut it down for my family vacation to California (Newport Beach). I have only run twice in the last 3 weeks.  Not exercising in any form is extremely difficult for me, but I know it is the right thing to do to let my body heal and to get healthy. My body already feels much stronger and my knees feel better.  I also am taking Mobic (anti-inflammatory) to help reduce the swelling and bursitis in my knees and I have started Physical therapy with Allison Lind.  She is awesome, I highly recommend her.  She just qualified for the Kona ironman on 10/9/10.  I also would like to get more acupuncture with Anastasia Hall, but I haven't had time.  I'm a big believer in the benefits of acupuncture.  I don't think that I could have run the Wisconsin Marathon without her help.

Since I haven't been able to run much, I have been riding a spinning bike at the gym.  Luckily, I can do this without pain.  I'm really enjoying doing something other than running and hope to keep up cycling when my knees are 100%.  I'm actively looking to buy a road bike now, so any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

My next marathon is on 10/10/10 in Chicago, so this is a great time to take some time off to let my body recover.