My Left Foot: My First Sport Injury

(Yesterday, there was the bombing incident at the Boston Marathon event. I sincerely hope that this tragedy will not happen in Malaysia. My condolence to the runners.)

During the last run - KL Road Race, I suffered my first sport injury. After living for 32 years, this is officially my first sport injury. Needless to say I'm not a sportsman material & didn't play sport at whatever level during my studies (main suka-suka petang-petang adalaaaa, jadi wakil jangan harap), so this is new to me.

Actually the injury already being triggered during end last year's Pasir Gudang Run. Even though after every run there will be some sort of muscle soreness, this particular pain in my left leg still lingering until today. I got through 2 more runs after the Pasir Gudang Run without any much complication, but during the recent run the pain is so much real. Yeah, so much real that I let Iqbal to catch up to me twice from behind.

The pain is not focused at one area. One time it is at the calf area. Another it will be at my thigh. But it is always at my left leg. I always contemplating to see the doctor since I don't have any experience with this kind of injury. My previous experience in raising any health issues with the doctor at Hospital Pakar Johor always ends up with the doctor dismissing it as a non-issue.

So, for the sake of changing the air this time I went to Hospital Pakar Regency near Pasir Gudang to check the leg. The pain was very real during the run plus the lingering after more than 3 months makes it more of a strong reason for me to fix it. Actually I can still walk without any issue, but I know that the pain will come back once I start running.

I was referred to Dr Nachiappan - known as Dr Nachi to all the other hospital personnel. From his front door nameplate his specialist is 'Ortho & Sport Injury Medicine Specialist'.

 

From my talk with him, he seems to understand the issue very well. He checked my left leg muscle & compared it to my right. After his assessment, he suspect that there may be some stress fracture at my tibia fibula bones. According to him on his experience with sport injury, the impact of running on the asphalt road to the body will be about 3 to 5 times your own body weight every time your leg pound the ground.

For this visit, he will conduct an X-ray & prescribed some medicine for 2 weeks supply. He also referred me to the physiotherapy department for this 2 weeks. If after this 2 weeks, the pain still persist, he will conduct a CT-scan on my leg.

As expected the X-ray didn't show any significant image. The medicine the he prescribed to me are:
i) Calcium - to strengthen the bones
ii) Painkillers - 2 types, strong for 3 days supply & normal for 5 days supply
iii) Muscle relaxant - the relax the muscle with an added side effect - will cause drowsiness
iv) Muscle gel - to relieve the muscle strain

I also need to change my running workout to swimming these 2 weeks to prevent aggravating the issue.


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