adjustments

I've had hip pain for the past few months, which started after a run where I tried to increase speed, after months of steady running. I'd had this type of pain before and back then I went on a long running hiatus, and even after getting back to it after half a year or so, hadn't gotten back to where I was. So it was frustrating to have it happen again. This time around, I was able to get back to running sooner than last, but the pain stayed, happening during other stretching and exercising. So my classmate referred me to a friend of his who's completing the physical therapy program at USC. I talked to her, and one of her classmates, last night for an hour about my hip. They got my history, watched me do some squats, and diagnosed me with hip impingement. They told me that I need to work on strengthening the smaller muscles involved in dynamic movement like running, and that I need to stretch my hip flexors to open up the hip joint, especially since so much of my exercise entails hip flexion.

I tried the exercises today before p90x and already noticed a difference. And like with other chronic pain, the absence of pain is noticeable; normal becomes prominent. It will take longer to go away completely, but I'm very happy with the change made by this attention to small motions and interactions.

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I had another interview with an ALS patient today. It was a full day venture, as his home is an hour drive from here, and our interview lasted two hours, and I stayed for lunch. He talked about how he notices sudden differences in his motion. One day he can stand on his tiptoes to hang home decor, three days later, he can't do it at all. He first suspected problems when he developed foot drop. When going down the stairs, he can't flex his feet and his heels come down hard on each step. The trick, he said, is to walk downstairs backwards.