My injury saga

[powerplant42]

Let me start by saying that I appreciate anyone reading this all the way through and giving their advice/opinion. This is a very long, involved post about a very boring subject. Thank you in advance.

I am NOT looking for two things...
1. Sympathy... I don't need it, don't want it, and don't feel it's deserved. I feel blessed to be lucky enough to walk.
2. Dissent on what big mistakes I made... I know that I shouldn't have done a lot of the things I did, but I'm the kind of vaulter/person that typically takes 3+ 'last' jumps in a session. I've learned a lot from all the hammerhead mistakes that I've made. If you have some sort of advice on something like 'when to stop', please realize that you're preaching to the choir now! But if it is very constructive, please go ahead. I just don't want to be scolded.

Thank you to KB for the suggestion of a daily training log... It became much more of a 'medical reaction/situation' log in the Winter months, and it has been extremely invaluable in documenting my symptoms, treatment experiments, etc. I wouldn't have NEARLY such a detailed description of what has become of my condition without it. THANK YOU KIRK!

I will begin...

It all started about a year ago, last Spring. It was a very normal day of practice. That season I had trained probably way too hard all Spring long... I tend to do that... It was nearing the end of the season, but I was not aware of any 'deep' fatigue/didn't feel like I was 'burning out'. Anyway, I started warming up by myself doing a quick 800m jog. That was when it started. I believe it was on the first lap, first turn, but it could've been the second lap, I'm not sure. The left side of my hip LIT UP. Having no real experience with 'sports pain' yet, I kept running. I figured that it was just a stiff muscle and that I could warm it up by running more and some stretching. I did that, and the pain disappeared. I went over to the pit and started vaulting. I'm sure I warmed up with some short runs, then I proceeded back to my full run of 7 steps. I was fine all practice until I decided to go work on my take-off real quickly over at the sand pit so that I might have some better full jumps before practice ended. I gave 100% for a few 2-3 steps in the sand, then I 'felt' my left hamstring. I ignored it and went back over to the pit to jump a few more times. I 'felt' it slightly more after 1 or 2 jumps, then I was told that we had to pack up. So I took one more vault, and when I landed, my hamstring was 'tweaked'. I mentioned it, but nobody cared. I sort of thought it was a big deal, but nobody else did, so I didn't even ice it that night.

Counties was soon. If I remember correctly, the next few days my leg felt worse and worse, so I don't think I did very much. I think there were only 1 or 2 days until Counties anyway, so I'm sure we didn't even have real practices. It hurt to stretch it out, but I decided that I would just use a 4 step at the competition. I definitely wasn't going to skip it. The day arrived, and I remember that I had a dress rehearsal for a drama thing that day, so I got to the meet a little later the rest of my team. I missed warm ups. I did my own little jog, probably wasn't too far, and then I did some pole runs. It hurt a little but not too much. I stretched out. Then the pit opened up and I took a practice jump. All I remember is that taking off hurt and swinging HURT BADLY. If I recall, I decided to skip to a height that would win the competition and opted to stretch until then. I took those three vaults, all of them misses, and all of them very, very painful. I winced and shouted some after each one, but I took the jumps. I iced after that.

A few days later I was at practice... Vaulting. I actually wasn't feeling too bad, until I decided to try out a slightly bigger pole than the one I'd been using so far that practice. Mistake. Big one. I ran, jumped, swung, and then screamed. I limped up to the trainer, got my flexibility assessed (probably about 30 degrees was 'painful'), then got icing right away. Regionals was soon.

I flirted with the idea of going to that competition, but my parents stepped in and said 'no'. I remember SAYING that I would ice it everyday ALL day, but that didn't happen. I iced it 'some' for a 'while'.

Now the plot thickens...

I took a month or so off. I didn't do much of anything that involved my leg... I remember what made it hurt and what felt good. The 'inverted hamstring' stretch http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledg ... retch.html felt the best, and the pain was worst when, as if I was walking, with my left toes were about to come off the ground and I pushed straight BACK.

I documented this on another thread, here: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=14917

I started doing a lot of strength stuff. A LOT of lifting. Plenty of upper body, but also a lot of lower body stuff, including squats, lunges, and deadlifts. This was all well below 1RM. I did this everyother day for a long time.

Then came the Summer. I had one light training session in the sand, and I think that felt alright, but I was very sore. Then I went to the SRU camp for a few days, where I actually held up. I wrapped my leg when I vaulted and used some analgesic (I think), and I was only very sore. Swinging did not hurt noticeably.

I took a few days off when I got back, then I decided it was time to start really training. I did my 6AM solo workouts up at the track, walking there, all Summer. I warmed up well every time. At first, I was really only unusually sore after the workouts. These workouts typically involved a lot of sand vaulting, pole runs, and some running drills. 'Claws', or straight-legged running gave me the most problems. It would get sore DURING the workout. I would typically do strength one day and technical work the next. I did take some breaks though.

So the hamstring pain sorted itself out over the course of a few months. Fall came, and I continued training. I was doing much better, and I'd basically forgotten about the pain in my leg. I was doing some pretty decent heights in the sand with a stiff pole, and landing hard on my backside. I was very determined, and I trained relentlessly all Autumn. I did periodize, but not very well I suspect. I did not give myself many breaks. I started my training log on October 20th. An entry from the 23rd stands out though... I claim that my legs were shaking when I stood. The next day my right quad hurt substantially. Soon I had my back yard high bar installed and spent a lot of time on that instead of on the track and in the sand, but most practices were still there. Many days I would do both. (During this time, I was still warming up very well.)

Winter approached and so did the indoor season. During this time I got some random hip pain... that came and went though, so I thought nothing of it. I went VERY hard the last week, then took a few days off in preparation for the first practice. That arrived, and it was uneventful. I was forced to do the same generalized running workouts that everyone else had to do... The one at the second practice hurt my RIGHT hamstring slightly. I laid off for the next few days. The next 2 weeks or so was very boring. A lot of sprinting and mid distance running. I did a lot of high bar stuff... But then my first jump session came. I did a bunch of short runs. The following day both my hamstrings were very tight. I had a vault session soon after that that made my left hamstring VERY tight/sore. I started trying things like rolling with foam, but it didn't really help much.

Soon I had my first meet vaulting. I PR'd by a foot, then the next day I made an entry of exactly 3 words: "My leg hurts..." Things got much worse from then on, and I did not pay much attention to the pain. I did depth jumps the next day! The day after the day after that I LIFTED, and the next day I had a meet. (No scolding please...) I jumped the same height as before, from a longer run.

This was when I decided to try to start rehabbing my leg with light lifting. I did excercises like Romanian deadlifts and glute bridges on a swiss ball. Again, I did try to periodize. This time I think I did well. Anyway, I 'rehabbed' my leg for a few weeks over Winter break. When I went back to start to work out again, and it felt fine. But, a few hours after that workout I started to hurt very badly. A few days later when I went to work out again, I noticed something strange... The actual ACTION of things like 'ostriches' did not hurt, but when I would stretch in between reps, I did not feel very good. Later that day, my muscle twitched a lot. Later meets and workouts continued to make it sorer, and the pain seemed to move. I continued doing rehab lifts, adding in some 'negative' hamstring curls one day. That was when I noticed deep twinges in my leg. I tried some meet preparation preventative stuff (pool, contrast, sauna, etc.), ibuprofen, analgesic, and wrapping at a meet, and that helped me through the 'day of', but the day after was pretty bad. It was then that I noticed that I could literally pop bubbles in my leg. It felt like there was an enormous amount of excess fluid just sitting in there. I just massaged it and kept doing rehab lifting, now for my back too, which was starting to hurt whenever I jumped at meets.

Then came February 1st. That was when I started getting the real pain. Lots of it. From my hip down through my leg. It got worse throughout the day and reached my foot which started going numb/got pins and needles. I saw a doctor and he told me that I had sciatica (which can cause very tight hamstrings). I went to a meet the following day (regionals). I wrapped pretty tightly, and I went from 4 lefts. I jumped for a qualifying spot (4th), not to PR or get points or whatever. I took a bunch of warm up jumps, and then a few competition jumps. Take-off hurt my back a little. Then I was done. I was in substantial pain soon after I was done jumping. The next day was horrible. The soreness was extreme... And the quality was that of a kind of 'bad' sore, not a 'good' sore if you know what I mean. After a day of rest, the soreness started getting better, but it was still bad around the back of my knee. (The bubbles were there, and I get them after any kind of excercise... and they stick around for a long time.)

I saw an orthopaedist and got an X-ray. That was inconclusive. I decided not to jump at States (which I qualified for) due to the pain that I was in. I rested for weeks. Then I got an MRI, and that was inconclusive as well. (They said that the nerves were being pinched but they weren't sure how.) I kept on hurting, and my leg kept being sore/twitching. Soon my right leg started hurting. I went to a few physical therapy sessions, but I had to stop for extraneous reasons.

Then something strange happened... The pain began spreading to my upper body. My chest, arms, and hands all became victims. It was just as bad, if not worse, than the lower body pain. One day it felt like my chest was getting electricuted, and the feeling seeped over into my arm. Soon I lost sensation and control of parts of my hands. I also discovered that it hurt to hold things above my head. I scheduled an MRI of my neck... I was told that if it came back negative that I would have to see a neurologist. In the meantime I continued to tentatively try to excercise/vault... (My orthopaedist said a while ago that I could do whatever I wanted to as long as it didn't hurt.) I did some light vault workouts/jogging/shooting baskets, and my left leg started feeling slightly better, and my back started feeling alright, even with the first outdoor meet that I participated in (from 3 steps)! The hamstring just felt very tired afterward.

Recently, the MRI came back negative. I will need to get another prescription for physical therapy, and I had a semi-real practice the other day. That practice, I did not wrap while I vaulted, and I went from 6 steps for the first time since Winter. During the practice I felt fine. Towards the end I started 'feeling' my leg, and when I stopped there were some slightly painful, quick, deep twinges. I went and iced right away in a stretched position. After icing, my hamstring proceeded to freak out. After walking outside, I sat down to talk with some friends, and I had trouble standing back up... My hamstring felt like it was about to cramp with just the slightest movement... and I had to walk home. I forced myself to do it, and when I got home it twitched/felt tired/was very sore. However, it did not HURT on its own. which I think is significant. Tensing it, however, hurt very bad, but this felt more like a 'good' sore. That was Thursday. I did some light leg swings on Friday, and those felt alright. Today it is still very sore, but feels like it's getting a little bit better.

Could it be the weather/seasons? But I'm serious... My leg feels much like it did at the start of my Summer training.

I appreciate any advice on anything that I should try to help my situation in any way. THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ THIS!!!

[ACvault]

OK,

First let me state that I am not a doctor or athletic trainer nor do I have much experience in helping people with injuries.

I think your first priority should be to figure out exactly what is wrong with you. Feeling that sort of your pain all over your body is not a normal athletic injury. From reading your entire post it sound like you would take a few easy/off days, come back and your leg would feel fine but soon flare up shortly after. This is not uncommon. I think that your injury never went away completely, it only temporarily subsided.

Now, to some practical advice. I think the best thing you can do is rest and rehab. If you continue to attempt to train in the same manner you have done previously your injury will turn into a repetitive cycle (as you mention your leg currently feels like it did at the beginning of last summer). The way I see it, you can afford to shut down the season early if that will result in a better season next year. Everyone goes through years like these, if you handle it the right way you will come back better because of it.

However, you do not have to take the advice of someone over the internet. If you are dead set on finishing out the season then there are a few things I would recommend.
-Virtually no running workouts for the next few weeks. If you have access to a pool, do pool running.
-If you feel strong enough, vaulting should be done cautiously. Limit yourself to three to four lefts for the time being. If and when you feel better, go ahead and back up.
-No more lifting
-Lots and lots and lots and lots of drills that do not involve putting stress on your leg. (Think Tim Mack in 1997!)

You need to find a good doctor. The pain you are describing throughout your body goes beyond the normal injuries that can be taken care of by an athletic trainer at school.

Again, I am not an expert by any means. This is all stuff I would do if I were in your situation. If you have any other specific questions, feel free to send a PM.

[KirkB]

I appreciate any advice on anything that I should try to help my situation in any way.

PP, you know that if I had any good advice for you about your health situation, I would have already given it to you. But if the doctors can't even figure out what's going on inside your body, then us amateurs won't be able to either.

I wouldn't beat yourself up as much as you seem to be doing. Your predicament is so rare (I think) that there's probably not much you can/could do. My only advice going forwards is to listen to your body, and train according to the signals it gives you. That's one of the miracles of the human body. When something hurts, your body tells you. PAIN is an amazing bio-feedback system!

I give this advice not just for PP, but for EVERYONE that might consider training thru injuries. It's rather obvious advice, but I think it's important enough to emphasize.

The #1 rule to a successful PV season is "STAY HEALTHY". If you search for those 2 words, you'll find that myself and several other posters have mentioned that repeatedly (mine all in the past 6 months). It's just common sense.

As usual, I relate this advice to my own personal experience. In my so-called 7 year fiberglass vaulting career, I only had 5 years of actual vaulting. In my Freshman and Sophomore years at UW, I think I vaulted a total of 3 meets. The rest of those 2 seasons I was in casts. In what would have been my 8th season, I had ankle surgery, and I was done.

So when I say "STAY HEALTHY", I'm absolutely certain that that's the BEST thing ... the #1 thing ... that you can do to have a successful season ... or career.

PP, if I were you, I'd take the summer off, and build up slowly next winter ... backing off anytime your body tells you to back off. It's time for a retrospective on what you WANT to do, taking into consideration what your body's ABLE to do. And even if you can't vault at all in your Sr. year (a horrible thought right now, I know), you can still vault at college or after that.

Health first, vaulting second!

In your case, it's GET HEALTHY, and then STAY HEALTHY!

Kirk

[powerplant42]

Thank you both for your advice.

It is worth mentioning that I will be getting another prescription for physical therapy soon. I've found out how little others, especially insurance companies, REALLY care... My small team of doctors does indeed like to take their time, but I guess I can't fault them since I don't know what other stuff is going on for them... But of course, I'm still just another patient... that's TRYING to BE patient... But my insurance company has been flirting with the idea of not paying for PT because they say my sciatica is a 'pre-existing condition'!!!

Anyway, I do feel like this soreness is GOOD soreness (like an 'I'm getting better' soreness). Maybe my hammy is just super weak right now? I don't know... I'll wait and see.

[rainbowgirl28]

GO find a good chiropractor. This type of thing sounds right up their alley. Worst case is it doesn't help and you are out a couple bucks, best case they adjust your back and neck and your problems disappear.

Chiropractic care and physical therapy can work really well together. If your chiropractor finds that adjusting something helps your problems, the PT can help you strengthen the right muscles to keep everything in alignment.

Almost every elite vaulter I know gets adjusted regularly. You've already tried just about every other solution out there...

[powerplant42]

I figured that would be the next logical step.

I think it might also be worth mentioning that the flexibility in my left hamstring is typically better than my right hamstring's... And that I have very low rotational mobility in my hip (when my knee is up/flexed) along the transverse plane (as in if I hold my knee up in front of me, I can move my feet less side to side than other people).

Any other thoughts?

And KB, I'm really counting on my jumping helping me get IN to my top school choice... Not just on the team, but INTO the school... So I'd consider potentially sacrificing long term health (more comfort probably) then not vault for the REST of high school, but I definitely am going to take a month or so off. I'll jump at Regionals (probably 4 steps), and States if I can qualify from such a short run (maybe I'll use 5 steps there).

Thank you everyone for being so helpful! This has really been tough on me...

[KirkB]

... and KB, I'm really counting on my jumping helping me get IN to my top school choice... Not just on the team, but INTO the school... So I'd consider potentially sacrificing long term health (more comfort probably) then not vault for the REST of high school, but I definitely am going to take a month or so off. I'll jump at Regionals (probably 4 steps), and States if I can qualify from such a short run (maybe I'll use 5 steps there).

My advice on taking the summer off isn't FIRM advice, and I'm not going to tell you "I told you so" if you don't do it and then you're injured again next Spring. Take it as just a reality check.

As much as you love PV, it's not the worst thing in the world if you miss a season or a summer. You can always get onto a college team as a walk-on ... or even a team manager ... or volunteer coach (small college) ... and work your way into an official position on the team.

The importance of your long term health is really what I'm trying to point out ... you can vault until you're 90 ... if you're HEALTHY!

Kirk

[VaultPurple]

Questions
1) What year are you.. Junior, Senior?
2) What colleges do you have in mind to vault at?


I was about like you last year in high school. I could never stay healthy, If i could make it up the steps to class without crawling i figured i was rested up enough to vault that day (then I would vault till I couldnt walk, take a few days off and do it again). But it was my senior year so there was no way I was no way I could take a month off or anything like that. So my week consisted of about a 3 hour vault practice on sunday, stood around all practice on monday and tuesday and helped other vaulters out, jumped at meet on wednsday, then might hit the stationary bike on thursday or friday. This is all I did and I still continued to get better because I was improving my technique so much on sundays. I also went to chiroprater twice a week.

I know this is not the "best way" to deal with an injury , nor do I recomend it to anyone that has another option. But if you want to get through the season jumping and improving then it usualy works and you can deal with the pain.
Also Invest in some asperncream and glob that stuff on before your workouts and most pain will subside.

The above advice is mainly if your a senior....

If junior and below the best advice I got for now since you said it feels like a "good sore", Is do not do any running workouts right now unless it is pole vaulting once a week. Hit up the stationary bike for about 3x10min on a low level where you just keep your legs moving, then go do some abs and pull ups between sets. Muscles heal best when they are being used so i wouldnt recomend not using them. Id let the PT come up with ways to strenthen that muscle and stretch it out, im no expert but ive seen a lot of people with pulled ham strings and their rehab is very slow and usualy starts with just laying on stomac doing leg curls with a 1lb weight.

As far as training through the summer. With that many problmes it takes a good time to compleatly heal, so take it easy. If your a junior then after your last meet, take atleast two months off. Yes pole vault camps are awsome but if your season ends in mid may and you take two months off to mid july, you need more than a few weeks to get back in shape for a good camp. Your on pvp enough to learn drills and stuff you can do on your own. I took a month off then went to Alans camp and I think I enjured myself more than I was befor the month off because we did so many pole runs (not that it was bad, I just wont ready for it). So take summer off, come back by just Jogging slowly for a while, then SLOWLY get back into sprinting workouts. You probably dont need hard sprinting workouts till October, as long as you are doing stride drills like A-Skips, and high knees and the assorted list of ever long pole vault running drills.
In high school you dont have to train 356 days a year to improve. I know its hard to believe but there are kids out there that are pretty good and they only do any workouts durring spring track. We all cant be as blessed as them but it showes ur not going to forget how to pole vault if you take a few months off.

The reason I was asking what colleges you are looking at is for simple fact, at somepoint you have to start thinking realistically. And that is unless you are planning on going to a small private college, no school is going to 'get you in' or help you out if your a pole vaulter jumping under 15 feet. I can tell that you love pole vauting and plan on vaulting in your future, so it would really suck not to even be able to get a walk on position. And your not going to get a walk on positon if you cant walk. So if your a senior then your going to have to find a way to still jump and impove if that means vault practice once a week and then meets and nothing else, and if your a junior you just need to chill out and heal up because you can improve a lot next year so theres no reason to get hurt worse and ruin you career as a pole vaulter.

[powerplant42]

I'm a Junior. My FIRST choice is West Point... My grades aren't that impressive though. My leadership background is very strong, but I really need some sort of athletic prowess to make up for my lack of academic domination that most others applying will have. And I have to start the application process very soon... Probably before April is over.

All my other school choices are 'vault schools'! Getting on the team isn't happening if I can't jump 15'+, which isn't happening if I can barely get through a workout!

Here are my thoughts now...

The soreness is getting much better, but I've decided that it will probably come back right away if I vault again. I think that's a bad thing. Instead of doing that, I'm going to get myself back to PT, and if that doesn't work then I'll try a chiropractor (my parents are NOT paying for both and I don't work). I'm going to live in the weightroom instead of on the track (ironic, right?) doing things like front squats, lunges, glute bridges, RDL's, and other excercises that I can use to help indirectly strengthen my hamstrings... Easy direct lifts, probably a lot of negatives. I'll also do some light mid-distance running. AND walking/jogging plants, can't forget those! I'll come out of it for Regionals/States (just the competitions) if I feel up to using a 3/4 step. I'll ease back into it in Summer, might take it easy at a few camps or whatever. I'm hosting altius at my high school... I don't care if I have two broken legs and a punctured lung, I'm participating in that clinic to my fullest capacity. After that, I'll see how I feel. I might have an opportunity to train with Wally up at UMBC, so there's a facility where I can test my condition. For now, I'll either be compressing, icing, heating, stretching, elevating, massaging, or any combination of those.

I hope my ego stays out of my brain's way... I'm really on thin ice right now.

[rainbowgirl28]

You've already tried PT, I suggest going to the chiropractor next. Do your parents have health insurance for you? Most insurance plans cover chiropractic, you just might have a deductible or something.

[tmcalan]

What are your personal bests that you are in a hurry to jump 15 right now? there are plenty of non impact drills you can work on to improve technique that will help in the long run. your best bet is to make the best of your sittuation and train through what you can without pain.

[powerplant42]

What are your personal bests that you are in a hurry to jump 15 right now?

I don't understand your question... I have to jump 15'+ to get any good vaulting schools to take me, and I need at least that to impress USMA enough for them to pay less attention to my less than stellar (but not BAD) GPA.

If it's worth anything, I jumped 9'6" from a three step at a meet a while ago... No real practice (recently) before then, and there was a very sharp head wind. (Lost on a countback!)

I can tell you that the energy that I felt from my 6 step Jagodins, even though I decelerated at take-off BIG, was considerable... I was getting up there for BAILED Jagodins (didn't really finish any)... If I can pull my leg/hip/lumbar/whole body together, I know that I can get up to 15' or much higher by Winter. I've improved immensely on the high bar, my plant is nearing excellence (although I'll be posting video soon for critiquing), and I measured my 2 step stiff pole grip height at 11'3" before I started my 6 stepping the other day. But I can only get in one serious pit training session every other week or so, so there's no way for the drills that I've come almost semi-close to near-mastery to transfer over to my full run! LAME!!!