A Passion for Running

Welcome to the home of Mark aka The Running Blogfather – a 40 year-old dad, husband and marathon runner who’s beaten injury and is on the comeback trail!

making some excellent progress

passion for running category: health and wellness on Friday, August 21 2009

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out what’s been wrong with me. In doing so, the Doc eliminated some very bad stuff (MS, Fibromyalgia, Diabetes etc).

While that was going on, I began taking copious amounts of supplementation – especially magnesium and calcium (LOTS). After only a couple of weeks doing that, things started to feel better.

I also started hitting the gym (am going 4 times a week for about an hour each day).

It turns out, the gym is exactly what I need to be doing since the final diagnosis is that I’ve got some pretty bad disc degeneration in a couple of places in my spinal column and THAT was causing all kinds of other problems – the scariest of which was numbness and tingling in my hands and arms.

The latest is that I’ve nailed down the precise spot in my neck that is causing the majority of my pain and numbness and I finally have medical people (the Doc, Chiropractor/Active Release Guy and massage therapist) telling me this is SOLVEABLE. This is the first time in years that anyone has KNOWN with confidence what was wrong and has told me it could be FIXED. What a relief.

So, the plan is that I am going to continue strengthening my core, back, chest and shoulders (and everything else to a lesser degree) and let the professionals fix the rest.

I’m feeling strong and hopeful for the first time in a long time. I even look better – the strength training is adding some muscle and improving my posture. I’m actually pretty amazed how quickly my body has responded!

AND I think I’ll even be back running within a couple of weeks.


5 Comments »

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Comment by jank

Sunday August 23, 2009 @

Glad to hear you’re getting well.

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Comment by Elizabeth

Thursday August 27, 2009 @

Great news glad you are getting everything figured out and getting back to running!

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Comment by ANA SOTO

Tuesday September 08, 2009 @

The great part of this story is all the effort and constance to keep going despite any medical problem. I just looked an aerobic exercise for people with limited mobility people, as well as Senior Citizens, since my sister has MS. I have found a great DVD with routines, we are working with them and she is feeling a lot better. I’ve found it in http://www.tonysnobaloneyfitness.com.

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Comment by jack

Tuesday January 19, 2010 @

Glad to hear you’re doing better. I have one ruptured and two bulging discs and the year I ruptured it was a rough one for me. I too am running again and it feels great to be back out.

Happy trails :)

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Comment by Yvette Rose

Thursday March 04, 2010 @

It’s amazing being a trainer for so many years how back issues is something even the fittest can’t avoid sometime in their life. I am a total believer in alignment and yoga. the best advise I’ve given my clients is to go to Jack Rabbit and get a gait analysis – even if you’ve done it before and feel you’ve corrected it, sometimes you can go right back to old habits. There was also a book written by a Dr – I have to go look through my library who is a big believer in a shoulder pain for example is actually caused from hip misalignment or ankle. So when my clients come in i always look to see which hip/shldr is higher how is the balance of muscle strength of their inner and outer thigh, etc.

anyway, I hope that you are on your way to recover. and I am glad you got the greenlight to get moving again.

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