Only Myself to Blame

Why do cigarette smokers smoke even though they know it causes cancer and heart conditions? 

Why do people with diabetes or asthma or any number of chronic health conditions not take their medications even though they know if they did their quality of life (and chances of living a full-term life) would be tremendously better? 

Why do many people not wear seat belts even though they have been proven to save lives?

Why don't we always wear sunscreen even though we know we'll get burned?

These are questions, as a psychology major, and public health professional, I've asked myself, my colleagues, and mentors.  In public health, we try to say it is lack of education that causes people to make the wrong choices.  This is true to an extent, and for some people knowledge is the missing link.  There are far too many instances, however, where an individual has all the knowledge to make healthy, informed decisions and actions but chooses (for whatever reason) not to.  In most aspects of my life, I do the healthy thing:  I exercise regularly, take my asthma medications daily, always wear a seat belt, and I almost always remember to put on sunloation.  But over the past 4 years there are two major things I've lacked:  strength training and stretching. 

So the big question I've been asking myself over the past 4 weeks: WHY DON'T ATHLETES TAKE CARE OF THEIR BODIES  (i.e. stretching, strength training, listening to their body and addressing pain issues with a medical professional)?? Most athletes know the importance of stretching and strength training to prevent injury, and you'd think it would be common sense to seek professional help for pain that lasts longer than a week, but knowing and doing couldn't be further apart for many athletes (including myself). 

For over 4 years I was lucky, but my luck ran out a month ago.  I was lucky to be able to swim, run, and bike mostly injury free without strength training or properly stretching for over 4 years.  For the past 4+ months I have felt pain and tenderness at the top of my hips, not to mention the usual tightness I've had in my hips which would come and go/ get better and worse ever since I started running 4 years ago.  After a regular 6 mile run a month ago, I started feeling pain in my right leg.  Long story short: the pain did not get any better, week after week, and after talking to a couple doctors and a Physical Therapist, I'm pretty sure I have: periformis syndrome (which is causing pain in my sciatic nerve) and some sort of issue with my L4 (which is what caused the pain in my hips for months, and now pain to shoot down my groin and quad). 

I'm pretty certain all of these periformis/ sciatic/ L4 issues could have been avoided if I had strength trained and stretched like I KNEW I should have all along.  The timing of these issues was horrible (when is it ever good timing for an athletic injury, I know, but this was particularly heart breaking for me).  I had worked hard this summer towards my 'A Race' - the Tri for Sight.  I was hoping to improve on my time at that race from when I did it 2 years ago, and to place top 3 female overall.  My issues flared up about 3 weeks before the race, and has yet to improve.  It wasn't until the evening before the race that I accepted the fact that I wasn't going to be able to compete in the Tri for Sight this year.  I can't even walk without limping and feeling shooting pain down the front and back of my right leg, so there is no way I cold have run without pain and risking further damage.  I had to skip that race, I'll likely have to skip the next race I'd already registered for (a half-marathon November 3), and it's going to take some time now to re-gain my cardiovascular shape. 

This was a hard lesson to learn, and one that I will not soon (hopefully never) forget. I am looking forward to being stronger than ever next tri season.  I'm finally doing the yoga, and core strengthening I've been saying for years that I "need to do", and once my current issues subside, I'll do leg and hip strengthening too.  I only have myself to blame for the current condition I'm in. 

Please let my story be your motivational lesson, and don't wait until it's too late that you have to figure it out for yourself.  Soon (hopefully sooner than later) I'll be off the injured list, and another 'poster athlete' for the benefits of strength training and proper stretching.