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Right leg going to sleep on bike and run! Pain

Dave CampbellDave Campbell
in General Training Discussions

Not me, but my training partner, my girlfriend started having this pain in her right leg about a year ago.  It comes with moderate to high intensity on the bike or run.  It is getting progressively worse.  After a lot of attempts to resolve,(Chiropractors, bike fits, ect), she went to a free athlete injury clinic put on by Duke University.  After several test, they found her a sports med doc who is also a triathlete.  He put her on a computrainer and got her to the point where she was in real pain.  Took her blood pressure in the arm, left and right leg.  She had virtually no blood pressure in the right leg.  This lead to the diagnosis of a blockage in the right side arteries, thought to be the Popiteal.  Two arteriorgrams have found nothing.  The cheif vascular surgeon at Duke has given up on helping her.  Last fall, she did back to back centuries with me at the MS150 ride, but she can't stand the pain any more.  She can't run or ride any more.  Has anyone heard of a similiar story, or have any suggestions.  We are desperate to find a solution to this.  As hard core triathletes, we know how devastating it is to be sidelined.  With this, we have no known solution.  Thanks for any help!

Dave

Comments

  • Dave TalloDave Tallo

    I've been working through something similar for the last two years ... with the same range of tests, specialists, surgeons, and so forth.  See:

    http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/...opathy.htm

    (Another active EN member might also jump in with advice ... I know she has a friend who is recently coming back after surgery to address the same issue).  

    PS - PM me, and I'll shoot you the resources I've gathered on this condition through the back-channel. 

  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    That would be me with the friend. She just had surgery as a matter of fact to deal with the issue. Apparently there are only a handful of docs in the country who are doing this particular surgery. Luckily for your friend, one of those docs is at UVA in Charlottsville (that's really not all that far considering the other folks I think are in California). He's the one who diagnosed my friend and did her surgery- his name is Ken Cherry. My friend is still on the recovery path but things are looking very promising. It's NOT an easy fix- this was major surgery with 2 weeks of bedrest afterwards, then about 7 weeks of very easy (think walking) activity. So don't set expectations with your friend that this if in fact she has this syndrom/issue that there's an easy fix.

    Good Luck!!!
  • Dave CampbellDave Campbell

    Thanks Nemo, Are you coming to White Lake this year?  She was there with me last year.  You guys met.  Were doing the race on May 1.  She does a lot of work with UVA and mentioned that she thought they specialized in this sort of stuff.  Looks like thats our next step.

    Thanks Again,

    Dave

  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    That's good to hear Dave! No- I won't be at White Lake this year, it's way too close to TOC.
  • Dave TalloDave Tallo
    Thanks for the ping, Dave. I'm just finishing a training week in AZ, and will send some links and docs when I'm back at the home computer later this week.
  • Dave CampbellDave Campbell
    She is in touch with Dr. Cherry at UVA and it seems like we are on the right path to a solution. Thanks for the help. I'll post more as we know.
  • Dave CampbellDave Campbell
    OK, after several frustrating months trying to figure this out, Dr. Cherry at UVA has reviewed the videos done during the recent arteriograms. It took him less than a minute to diagnose this as External Iliac arteriopathy. Basically, as I understand it is caused by the artery being damaged due to the bent over position on the bike. Google has some info on it. The thing is that the normal medical profession doesn't seem to have a clue about this. It is a rare condition. She will have surgery soon to repair the damage and then a rather lengthy recovery process. Off the bike for 6 weeks, bed rest for 2 weeks post op. Thanks to all for your help with this!
  • Dave CampbellDave Campbell
    An update! Surgery was done yesterday by Dr. Ken Cherry at UVA. He said she had a bad case of this. He replaced about 4-5" of her external Illiac artery with a synthetic substitute. So far, she is recovering very well. The team at UVA is fantastic. The EN team was very helpful in getting us to this solution. Thanks to all for your help. U guys ROCK!! This alone would be enough of a reason to be an EN team member, let alone the rest of the support. Looking forward to seeing some of you in LP in a month.
  • TracyWoodTracyWood

     Dave

     That is great news! Thanks for keeping us posted. Hope your GF/TP recovers smoothly!

    See you in LP in a month

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