Well I'll Be...

I'm at the age now where as I'm leaving for soccer games the Mrs. will always tell me, "Don't get hurt." Not, "good luck." Not, "play well." Don't get hurt. I'd like to think this is because I always play well and luck is for suckers, but in reality it's that I'm far more likely to hurt myself. Which I did this week, straining my groin. It wasn't horrible, but it was bad enough that I removed myself from the game (which, if you know my Cal Ripken-esque Iron Man attitude, is a big deal). It hurt after the game. It hurt when I showered. It hurt when I slept. And it hurt when I walked the next day.

So I headed over to my nearest sporting goods retailer at lunch with plans to get some sort of wrap for my groin and I stumbled into a display stand for something called KT Tape. If you're not familiar with kinesio tape, this is that crazy tape you see on professional athletes nowadays that looks like a spider web. I was curious, so I left without buying anything and did some research back at work about the stuff. It claimed to accelerate healing and recovery while reducing pain, and it had online demos on how to use it for taping various injuries - groin included.

So after work - still hurting - I went back and bought two rolls of the stuff. After the normal evening routing - still in pain - I sat down to tape myself up. I finish taping, stand up, and walk around. The pain is gone. Not less. Gone. I am in disbelief.

This morning I got up and went to the gym. I did an easy mile warmup run (7mph) and there was some irritation, but it was more irritating than painful. I proceeded to lift, including my legs, without feeling anything.

So maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe the Aleve suddenly kicked in. I don't know. What I do know is that I will keep my groin wrapped until this stuff falls off (it claims it can stay on through showering and exercise for as long as 5 days), and then I will tape it again. This may just be the fountain of youth - or at least something to get me through a few more seasons of competitive soccer...