Recovery and Rehabilitation from Athletic Pubalgia (Sports Hernia) Surgery - Part 2: Weeks 7 - 12

The first six weeks post-surgery blog is located here. The next six weeks were slow but steady improvement. I was still very limited by groin and compensating pain, but those became a little less overwhelming by the week. Here is a weekly recap -

Week 7: Started running a little more. I went to Duluth with Jake for the Half Marathon Champs and I needed to run. I would stop as soon as I started to hurt (usually 1 mile or so). Lots of compensation still, adductor soreness, and groin discomfort. But better! Same PT exercises.

Week 8: Added some biking and got up to 2.5 miles of running about every other day. The biking and running added some stress on my groin area, so I started doing PT on the alternate days from running. My groin and adductor got quite sore and my right knee felt slightly unstable but had to start somewhere!

Week 9: 4th of July week. We went up to Hebgen Lake, MT with some friends. I was having sporadic periods of feeling terrible then feeling great. I ran my first race - Sawtelle Stampede 5K. I paced my friend to a sub-25 and felt great for 2.5 miles (it's amazing what the racing atmosphere can do!) before my groin got weak and achy.

Week 10: My psoas hurts. I focused a lot on the psoas inhibition exercise and relaxation pose (see previous blog post). I was working really long hours and had a lot of stress which definitely contributed to the pain. I was able to run a little more than the previous week and got up to a 4 mile run this week. I went to PT and he added back extension exercises and more glute isolation exercises to my routine. 

Week 11: Starting to feel like I am really running again with several 4 milers. I ran my second race post-surgery as a test to see where I am. I ran 21:28 at the Draper Days 5K, and it was tough! I also went on my first hike since surgery and did well for 3.5 miles before my right leg got tired.

Week 12: We went up to Jackson, WY for the week. I didn't run much but was able to do a lot of hiking! It was a huge accomplishment to hike for 9.5 miles up to Ampitheatre Lake and back. I put my legs in the cold lakes as often as possible and iced with my feet up the rest of the time. It was very exciting have some fun adventures again.