The Friendly Doctor

Yesterday while I was running I felt this dull pain throbbing in my left shin. I always have pain every time I run, I just get used to it and try my best to ignore it. This made me think about my sports medicine doctor. He hasn't had the pleasure of seeing me in awhile, even though I have called his office for my orthotic prescription. I don't mind going in to see my sports med doc, he's always upbeat and even though he misses things all the time, like the stress fracture I had in my left leg, he is fun to talk to. He is probably the only person who after all my leg problems is excited to hear about my next running challenge (if he knew I ran a half marathon he would be jumping up and down). He ran track in college and understands the thrill of running (which fewer and fewer people seem to recently). He didn't tell me to stop running after I sprained my ankle for the second time (although my mother suggested I take up swimming when I called my freshman year of college asking her if the paramedics had contacted her while I was getting an x-ray). He just referred me to physical therapy (I have been to the same physical therapy clinic for at least 3 or 4 different injuries but never seem to retain the same physical therapist). I think physical therapy is a waste of my time, I never do the appropriate exercises and refused to go in high school (to be fair in high school I refused to go to my school's sports med department. On various occasions they burned my leg, hurt me, and almost caused me to lose toes due to frostbite-I have Raynaud's syndrome (look it up) and can't handle cold very long). My ex-boyfriend would literally force me to go to sports med at school (once I think he physically carried me there-sometimes I can be the biggest pain in the butt).

But back to my sports med doctor, I think he honestly would have made a better coach than doctor (considering he missed my stress fracture). He would have been supportive and encouraged runners to achieve their best. Unlike my head track coach in high school who ridiculed me, thought I couldn't achieve anything, and even tried to make fun of my accomplishments ("You made states? What height did you have to jump 4'4"?"-he was referring to high jump and the height was 4'10"). If only everyone was like my sports med doc, encouraging. I think too many people try to put others down like my track coach for some reason. I don't see how that helps people achieve their full potential. I mean, my doc never told me he thought I was going to be an Olympian, but he was always excited to hear about the next running challenge I had set for myself.