I couldn’t sleep last night.
The pain was stinging and uncomfortable. That was when I knew I couldn’t keep waiting. I’m glad I finally made the appointment to see a physiotherapist about this running injury.
Although I’ve been to a few physio sessions before, this one gave me more clarity about what was actually happening. The explanation was much more detailed — maybe a little too detailed. I kept thinking about the time ticking away from treatment. The first visit was supposed to be 75 minutes: 15 minutes consultation and 60 minutes treatment. In the end, I was left with about 45 minutes of hands-on work.
But for the first time, I properly understood the why behind the pain instead of just being told to rest and stretch. There were many technical terms — some I thought I knew, but actually didn’t.
So here’s what happened.
I already had issues on my right side — plantar fasciitis and shin splints. A classic overuse injury combination for runners. Without realising it, I started overusing my left side to compensate.
And now I’ve created another problem on the left.
Not bad luck. Just imbalance.
The physio explained that my soleus and medial gastrocnemius were tight and overloaded — essentially a calf strain from prolonged compensation. When those calf muscles don’t function well, everything down the chain reacts — including the plantar fascia.
It isn’t just shin pain.
It isn’t just hip discomfort.
It’s compensation.
It’s load management.
It’s how the body adapts to injury — until it can’t anymore.
What struck me most was how easily the body adjusts. When one side is injured, the other side quietly takes on more work. You don’t notice it immediately. It just feels like you’re “managing” your training load.
Until you’re not.
The hard part of injury recovery isn’t always the diagnosis.
It’s accepting that recovery doesn’t follow your schedule.
I like structure. I like plans. I like knowing when I’ll be back to normal training. But rehab doesn’t give you that certainty. It asks for patience instead — something I’m not always good at (and honestly, something I don’t enjoy).
Right now, recovery looks like calf releases, controlled strengthening exercises, and being more intentional with load management. The therapist said she’ll share videos so I can continue the rehab exercises at home. Not exciting. Not dramatic. Just consistent work.
I know one physio session won’t fix a running injury. And the clinic is too far from home for regular visits. But at least now I understand what I’m dealing with.
And somehow, that feels calmer.
At least I know I’m not dying. My legs aren’t going to be chopped off. It’s just muscle imbalance from compensation.
And imbalance can be corrected.
I just hope I’ll have the discipline to follow through with rehab and recover properly. I get frustrated when I can’t run — angry, even. Running keeps me steady, and not being able to do it feels like losing part of my routine.
But being stubborn clearly hasn’t helped either.
Maybe this is a reminder not to ignore the small ache that won’t go away.
What’s one signal your body has been giving you that you’ve been brushing aside?
Have you ever compensated for one injury and created another without realising it?
May xx
We all start from a place of not knowing what we don't know, and there's no way around that. There's first-layer knowledge and second-layer knowledge, and most practitioners don't have the latter. Based on what you've shared, I'm going to point to some blind spots the practitioner doesn't have the knowledge to recognize. Everyone who's dealing with gravity and ground reaction forces is compensating for previous injuries, and shoes that don't complement how our feet function. And that's only a couple of the things our bodies are up against, daily. The compensation that occurs during and after a pregnancy is a big one, something that's rarely acknowledged or addressed by ~99% of the practitioners who work with the musculoskeletal system. While hearing you have muscle imbalances and compensation sounds good, the practitioner doesn't have the skillset to differentiate tight muscles from muscles that are underperforming (neurologically impaired). For instance, when you're told that your soleus is tight, it's their best guess. You can't have muscles that are truly tight without underperforming muscles. And the underperforming muscles are the reason muscles are tight in the first place. When a practitioner can't confirm that a muscle is tight, and they attempt to release a muscle, often, they collect other muscles that could be functioning to the best of their ability. And like stretching or foam rolling, the muscles that get collected end up underperforming ---- increasing compensation even more. As for strengthening, because the practitioner hasn't addressed compensation before introducing the exercises, the one-size-fits-all exercises also increase compensation. Now, it's possible that you could be back to punching the ground with no pain. But, it's not because following the practitioner's advice allowed for antifragility. Instead, it increased fragility, and you were "lucky" in the sense that your brain found a workaround, resulting in your body compensating differently than before the pain or injury.
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you for breaking that down! You’ve given me a new perspective on muscle compensation and how subtle things can impact recovery. I really appreciate your insight — it’s given me a lot to reflect on.
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