Hashemian Blog Web Tools, Financial Markets, Technology Sunday, September 28, 2008 Herniated Disc and Half Marathon  One of my biggest anguishes I've had about getting hit with a herniated disc has been my inability to participate in my town's annual half marathon. But as I recovered from this affliction and started to run again I began to think that perhaps my fears on that front were premature and I could at least try the race this year. So I decided to register for the event next week and give it a shot. My running performance hasn't been anywhere near before my injury. I jog slowly about 4 or 5 miles depending on my condition every other day and I've learned to be satisfied with that. Running 13.1 miles has been such a distant goal that I knew I was deluding myself about running, let alone finishing, this race. Then to add insult to injury I got hit with another blow to my back yesterday. I must have over-extended myself lifting heavy bags after grocery shopping. Those with back pain know what I'm talking about. As you begin to straighten up you feel the dreaded pop in your back followed by the pang of sharp pain. It's unmistakable and it's the beginning of yet another bout with extended back pain. After muttering a few expletives under my breath I realized that this was the kiss of death for next week's half marathon. Just my luck! Oh well, perhaps this was a sign that I should accept my condition and avoid strenuous activities. Yet there's that stubborn part of me that just won't capitulate. So after a painful night, I popped two Advils today and decided to pay a visit to the half marathon course to evaluate my condition. I planned to run the course as far as I could and then quit at the 7th mile or so, if I could get that far. Right from the start the back pain kicked into high gear and kept hounding me to stop. "No way," I thought to myself and I kept on going with pain piercing my back and pins and needles radiating down my legs. I wasn't about to let the pain force me to quit. As I passed every mile marker already painted on the course, I said "one more mile" and pressed on. As I reached the 7th mile, I had a sudden realization that I've made it this far, might as well finish the darn thing. The temperature was mild but humid, pain was my only companion, and there were no water stations to get hydrated, but finish I did. When I incredibly passed the finish line, I continued for another fraction of a mile as a sort of a victory lap. Dehydrated, exhausted, and pain-ridden (and not just in my back anymore), I got in my car to drive home, dazed at what I had actually done. I hadn't stopped even once. It was one smooth jog from beginning to end. I'm not sure if this was a case of mind over matter or just a foolish act to defy my own body and prove a point. Whatever the case, I learned that the human body can sometimes be pushed beyond its perceived limits. The jury is still out on whether I can repeat the performance next week at the race. On top of that I might have aggravated my condition today. But even if I can't, I know I ran the half marathon even before the starter pistol's trigger will have been pulled. back pain,marathon,half marathon,running,jogging,herniated disc Labels: back pain, running <Herniated Disc and Half Marathon> // posted by rh 2 comments Friday, February 15, 2008 MRI, Back Pain, Herniated Disc, and Running  If you are an avid runner, you know that occasional pain is just a part of the activity. It comes in different intensities and it affects different parts of the body. Sometimes it's in the knee, other times it's in the foot, sometimes it's from a strained muscle, and other times it's in a joint. Take a look at my recent MRI and it's not hard to tell where my pain was coming from. Even my kids had no trouble spotting it. Mind you, my doctor is yet to see this on my next visit, but odds are he'll zero in on this anomaly too. The ordeal started about 4 months ago. At first it was a pulling and tightening sensation in my left hamstring. As time progressed it became painful, specially on long jogs and the hilly parts of my route. I would just attribute it to a strained muscle, yet strangely the hamstring was not tender to the touch. The discomfort would eventually subside, but kept returning with more intensity after each run. In my mind something was clearly wrong, but not bad enough to seek medical help. Then 2 months later my body decided to send a stronger signal, in the form of a nasty lower back pain. I've had lower back pain before. They would normally hit me every couple of years, and eventually go away after about a week. I would just ignore them and continue with my daily activities, including running. But this time the pain had no intention of leaving. In fact it kept worsening to a point that I could barely even walk. The hamstring pain was still there, but I was yet to connect the dots. My orthopedic doctor, however did make the connection when I finally decided to pay him a visit. An X-ray revealed no serious problems, so I was given some conditioning exercises, some anti-inflammatory medication and a follow up date. Slowly the pain began to subside and I started to resume my normal life and running. But a couple of weeks later, just before leaving for a week-long business trip, the pain returned with a vengeance. This was the worse trip I had every been on. There I was in Miami Beach near the beach where I should have been running after work. Instead I was nursing a debilitating pain. I couldn't sit, I couldn't stand, I could barely walk, and I still had my job to do. Things became even worse when I returned. Getting in and out of the car became a long exercise in pain. Turning in bed at night meant a certain wake-up with a piercing pain. Advil became a candy of choice in copious amounts. Finally I called my doctor again to see him before the follow up date. He discovered a distinct weakness in my left leg as compared to the right one. I believe this condition is known to some as Sciatica. He suspected a herniated disc and ordered an MRI scan, which took place yesterday. The MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine is truly a marvel of medical technology. It can virtually slice through the body and record images from multiple angles while the patient feels absolutely nothing, except his original pain that brought him there in the first place. Claustrophobics would certainly find the process disconcerting, as do people like me who can't hold still for even a minute. When I had to lie still in that loud coffin-like contraption for some 40 minutes, the desire to move became even more magnified. I don't know how I lasted that long, but somehow I managed to stay still the whole time. Moving around probably would have meant having to stay longer in there for re-scans, and my goal was to escape the mechanical beast as fast as possible. At the end of the session, I was given a CD-ROM to hand over to my doctor on my next visit. I hadn't intended to browse the CD, but by the time I got home, curiosity (both technical and medical) got the better of me and I started to browse the images. Many of them made no sense to my untrained eyes. I could almost make out the position of the sliced images, but they all looked like a mass of chopped meat to me, until I got to the length-wise sliced images. As I looked closer, I finally spotted the damming evidence, which I have indicated above with a white arrow on the image. Yes, that's really my spine. I'm no doctor (although I am a son of a darn good pediatrician), but this looks like an unmistakable culprit to me. It may be a herniated or bulging or protruded or slipped or ruptured disc, but it's easy to see how it's pinching the nerve between the L5 and S1 vertebrae. Ok, I googled their names. Obviously my doctor will have the last word on this when I see him next week, but this evidence is hard to contradict. The good news is that I know the cause of the pain, and the bad news is that I know the cause of the pain. Could this mean the end of my running days? I don't know, at least I hope not. For now I have replaced jogging with the much gentler walking. As depressed as the thought of not running makes me, there's no need for me to dwell on it and become inactive. Life is filled with all kinds of obstacles and personal disappointments. Whatever the case here, mine can be no worse than others'. MRI,sciatica,back pain,running,orthopedic,spine,herniated disc,lumbar,lower back,disc,jogging Labels: back pain, health, running <MRI, Back Pain, Herniated Disc, and Running> // posted by rh 5 comments Tuesday, January 29, 2008 Back! to Jogging  Those who know me (there aren't too many) know that running is an addiction of mine. But just like any addiction there comes a time when a man must realize when to quit. In the immortal words of Dirty Harry, "A man's got to know his limitations." That limitation hit me in the back with a Magnum force a few weeks ago and I'm still trying to recover from it. Running is a great stress reliever, but not when backache comes calling. This latest one came without a warning. One day I rolled out of bed and there it was. Like any addict, I ignored the pain and went about my running, but this one didn't seem interested in healing. The doctor says the spine looks normal, it's probably a bulging disc. The advice: take it easy, do some back exercises and ride it out. So for the past couple of weeks I had replaced jogging with walking. It's not so easy kicking such a strong habit, specially one that's been a part of my life for so long. Still, walking isn't so bad once you get used to it, specially if the alternative is painful pinches. It's inevitable that if live long enough, I'd have to give up running at some point. I just hope that time is not now. Anyways, tonight I finally switched over to some light jogging and there seems to be a glimmer of hope there. The pain is still there, but it feels more subdued now. Human body is a flawed piece of work. Regardless of the intelligent design versus the evolution debate, the human body is no work of art. I can understand that nature is imperfect, but if god is the designer, he can't be that perfect creator that religion purports him to be. He sure has a lot of learning about the KISS concept, as in, Keep It Simple, Stupid. I mean why all this complexity when he probably could have taken a much simpler approach? Reminds me of Nomad, the perfect sterilizing machine, from the Star Trek Episode, The Changeling. This is what it said, referring to biological units (humans): The unit Scott is a primitive structure. Insufficient safeguards built in. Breakdown can occur from many causes. Self-maintenance systems of low reliability. If only I could have Nomad fix my back the way he revived Scotty after killing him with a high energy bolt. But alas, Nomad wasn't so perfect itself either, and it finally met its own demise by the imperfect Captain Kirk. running,jogging,back pain,star trek,nomad,god,religion,dirty harry Labels: back pain, god, religion, running, star trek <Back! to Jogging> // posted by rh 0 comments

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