Watch Kristen’s Story!
Kristen’s Testimonial:
Last fall, I completed my fourth half marathon with my best time. In the past, I’ve taken the winter off from running, but I felt so great after that race that I just kept running the same mileage – or more – that I was running at the peak of the half marathon training schedule, with very few days off.
Then in March, I ran a 5k to try to get a new PR. About half a mile from the finish line, I had a terrible side stitch that I ran right through – I made it to the finish line, but in a lot of pain. In the weeks that followed, I had a sharp pain in my abdomen, right below my left rib cage and a tingling feeling in my back. I was able to run fairly normally, but I had a nagging pain that just wouldn’t go away – even when I wasn’t running. I started getting side stitches that would force me to slow down or walk for parts of my run. It was annoying, but not overly painful so I just kept running.
A few months later, I was visiting the doctor and mentioned the pain. I told him that I was fairly certain that the pain came from the 5k, but he said that abdominal muscle pain does not last that long. He told me I needed to see a surgeon and have a CT scan.
Around the same time, I received a flyer from Robbins Rehabilitation in the mail, offering a free running screening. I figured, why not? Travis asked me lots of questions about my running and did a thorough examination. He noticed that I was uneven – my hips and shoulders were crooked. I started doing exercises to strengthen my weak left side (where the abdominal pain was). The pain slowly but surely got better.
The doctors did x-rays, an ultrasound, an MRI & a CT Scan. They could not find anything wrong. One visit with Travis, and he had the problem figured out. Since I was visiting the doctor so much, I asked if it could be something in my back as Travis thought, and my doctor sent me for a nerve test. It confirmed Travis’ diagnosis of irritation of my thoracic spine. It turns out that all the running I had been doing with crooked hips had irritated the nerve. The pain in my abdomen was referred from my back – and continuing to run crooked was preventing it from healing. Travis & Meg gave me a new running schedule to follow, along with the exercises, and my back began to heal. I was so happy to not only have an answer, but to be able to keep running through my therapy!
I would highly recommend Robbins Rehabilitation to anyone that is in pain – I wish I would have gone to Travis first, and saved all those trips to the doctor, the cost of the tests, and the frustration of knowing something was wrong that the doctors just couldn’t figure out. Not one of the doctors listened to me as much as Travis, Meg, and Kelly did. I am still on the road to recovery – if I run too much, the pain flares up. But now I know just what to do thanks to the at-home exercises they gave me.
And just last week I was able to run ten miles, completely pain free. Thank you SO much Robbins Rehabilitation!
