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compiled from Sam Gardner's journal
On January 1, Sam Gardner left Crown Point, New York on what he hoped would be a 12,500-mile trek. He planned to hike the North Country, Pacific Crest, Continental Divide, and Appalachian National Scenic Trails in one huge walk.
However, tendonitis in a hip has forced him to take a break. Sam reached Portageville, in western NY, and has returned home, to Houghton, Michigan, for medical treatment and therapy.
The pain in his hip had reduced him to completing only about six miles a day- not nearly enough to stay on a resupply schedule for his long trek.
He writes on March 6, "Today I made a very hard decision. I have chosen to leave the trail to seek medical care. The tendentious in my hip has only gotten worse in the past month. Every day i cover less and less miles before the inflammation triggers enough pain to stop me in my tracks. I was hoping to take care of this on the trail but I believe it’s well beyond that point."
This morning, he posted from home, "[The chiropractor says] my pelvis is out of alignment big time. The bad news is that it could take 6 months of physical therapy. I sincerely hope that his estimate is wrong by a long shot. I am super bummed. There is no doubt about it. However I’m doing my best to work around it. I’ve been scheming all night. So I’m coming up with a plan."
We'll have to stay tuned to see what Sam decides to do.
You can follow his journey at The Initiative
3 comments:
wow, that is quite the undertaking. I wish that I had the time to do such a thing! I hope that someday he heals up and gets to complete this trip!
I feel sorry about it. I started to live less active in life because of the pain i experience on my ankle. Which i got during an extreme sporting event.
This is definitely a bad situation especially for someone so passionate about trekking. Medical professionals say that tendonitis is most often an overuse injury. Oftentimes, people begin a new activity that causes the tendon to become irritated. People with hip problems should know that unfortunately, some patients who underwent hip implants still experience severe pain, due to a defective medical device like the DePuy products. With this, a more serious treatment/medication will have to be done. The reason why about 12 percent of recipients of a DePuy hip replacement require revision surgery is that these devices can deteriorate and fail completely. As a result, manufacturer Johnson&Johnson have been charged with compensatory claims by their patrons, legal specialists say. In 2010, the DePuy ASR Recall was implemented by the company.
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