Ohhhh so that’s the medical explanation as to why I’ve been crumbling into a million pieces over the past year. Seriously though, I went to my appointment this morning fearing the worst and ended up receiving a diagnosis that will hopefully put me on the path to once again being a happy and healthy runner.

No X-ray, no MRI; just a series of “tests” on my legs and arms that focused on joint mobility. Although I’ve never even heard of this condition, it appears that I have something called joint hypermobility, where some or all of the joints in the body freely move beyond their normal range of motion (and all these years I just thought I was flexible). It was really freaky when I laid on my back and he could literally pull one of my legs so that it was a full inch longer than the other and vice versa. Oddly enough my issues are identical to this clinical presentation.

In conjunction with my wacky joints, it looks like I need to do some major work to strengthen my rectus femoris. Interestingly, the rectus femoris isn’t even part of the glutes, which is where I’ve been experiencing the most discomfort. It’s actually one of a group of muscles that make up the quadriceps. With all of the cycling I do I figured I had the strongest quads out there, but I guess not!! And so the pinching of my sciatic nerve and subsequent pain I’m experiencing can be attributed to the hypermobility, my loosey goosey pelvis, and my misbehaving rectus femoris. Thanks to all of my bones, joints, and muscles for sucking at their jobs!

A funny (or not so funny) sidebar – before I left for my appointment this morning I wanted to pinpoint the precise location of the “hurt” and narrowed it down to the space between the front and back pocket on my jeans. Without even mentioning my technique, the doctor said something about the spot between the pockets to his PT who was also in the room. Honestly, with the help of Google, Wikipedia, and my super scientific anatomical vocabulary I could totally be a doctor.

Anywho, he seemed really upbeat about the prognosis and referred me to a month of physical therapy. Hopefully the strengthening I do will not only relieve the pain, but also make me a stronger runner!

I’ll have a Yom Kippur recap and some thoughts about hunger and exercise a bit later on.