A Visit to the Sports Doc

**UPDATED** I posted example X-Rays that were not mine, which didn't do my break in my ankle justice. I picked up the X-Rays today and you can see them below. **UPDATED**

So I went to the Sports Med Doc today to get my knee checked out. While I was there I also mentioned my ankle, which has been rolled/sprained a dozen times since I was 14. The ankle gave me problems periodically, but nothing big. The knee was really hurting lately with even some swelling.

He orders X-Rays while I am there and head back in to see Dr. Bart. He says "Hey Paul, wait here let me check the x-rays." So I hang out in the hallway and look at his running posters. After being in his office for less than a minute I hear, "Holy Crap!"
Heart hits the floor. "Dammit, my knee is worse than I thought." I thought to myself. Is it a torn meniscus? ACL/MCL tears?

Nope... The knee has a mild case of "runner's knee," typically caused by fast increases in mileage, which I know I have been known to do.

Now keep in mind, I have an MRI scheduled on Monday 1/30, but the doc is 99% sure he is right, and this guy is good (Tom Bartsakos). And, as I can even see from the X-Rays below, there is a bone just hanging out.

Turns out, when I rolled my ankle in track my Junior year of high school, I broke a bone in my ankle. "Closed nondisplaced fracture of medial malleolus of right tibia with nonunion." Say that 10 times fast. Not to mention, "footballer's ankle." Yes, that last one is a real type of injury.

So I picked up digital copies of the X-Rays, which you can see below. In the first picture, to the left, you can see what the doctor called "bodies" between the outside bone and my foot. Those are rubbing against ligaments which can cause tearing and even make the bone grind. Ouch. Then on the right side of both pictures, one a big circle, the other a square, you can obviously see a piece of bone that broke off years ago. He believes it is a non-union heal, meaning it probably fused with tendons, ligaments, and other tissue back to the main bone. This is what causes the shooting pain I get when I twist or bump the inside part of my ankle. Because a bone broke and didn't heal.

 That part of the bone was broken sometime in the past 15 years. Because it was misdiagnosed as an ankle sprain (which turns out to happen more often than you would think), the bone never healed appropriately. The bone ended up fusing to scar tissue and ligaments, which then fused to the bone. Sounds fun right?

So what is the treatment? Arthroscopic surgery on the "footballer's ankle" part. The other, requires surgery.

The biggest bummer? He said that my goal of running the Akron marathon this year are down the shitter, and that I need only do "non-impact" exercise. Which translates to, NO RUNNING.

How can you tell that to someone who has just spent a few hundred dollars on registration fees, compression socks, Vibram Five Finger shoes, and other running gear. Not to mention, I just registered for the Cleveland Rite Aid Half Marathon in May.

So surgery of some kind is needed. That surgery could be weeks away. I have spent the past 10 years running on this injury. What is a few more weeks?

What Dr. Bart doesn't know, is that I don't like it when people tell me I can't do something, especially related to sports and running. I am going to continue running with an ankle brace and ice after each run. Then, when surgery comes, I will have a decent base to hopefully maintain with some non-impact rehab like bicycling and/or the pool.

I will run Cleveland Half Marathon, and I will run the Akron Marathon.

Challenge, ACCEPTED!!!!!