I'm reaching out on behalf of the father of a runner on the Daniel High Track and cross-country teams, a male teammate of my two daughters and an exceptionally gifted and driven athlete (his name is Sam Profitt and he's in 10th grade with my younger daughter).
If there are any medical/neurology folks who want to give this a read and offer some guidance and/or assistance, it would be greatly appreciated.
I'll start with what's going on right now: He is in the best shape of his life, and a few weeks ago he was racing at an event in Greenwood and was on pace to crush his personal record (and win the race). 2.5 miles in his problem started, as typical. Now he's on the shelf. He was referred to a neurologist, who said they can't see him for six months. But in the meantime they've told him do not run a race beyond two miles.
So what they'd really love right now is to have him seen by someone sooner than six weeks. This process has bee agonizing for them and I want to do everything I can to help.
OK, now the backstory from his father:
September 27th, 2023: Sam came home from practice and said his stomach hurt at the end of practice. Felt it at the end of a really, really hard training practice. Felt like a really bad side stitch “on steroids” in his words. We gave Sam ibruprofen and for the next 2 days he didn’t do anything. He showed us where he hurt and it’s his upper right abdominal area.
September 30th, 2023: Pickens County Championship. We traveled to the meet. Sam was going to warm up and see how he felt to decide if he was going to race or not. He probably jogged 5 paces and felt the bad pain and stopped.
October 2nd, 2023: We got Sam an appointment with his Primary Care Physician. They did a full blood panel and found nothing abnormal. Checked his stomach and said “it’s likely a muscle strain or nerve issue. Take a week or two off and you should be fine.”
October 2nd 2023: The head distance coach at Daniel, Pawl Dawson, referred us to physical therapist Brad McKay in Greenville. Brad said it was likely a nerve issue. He did all kind of different therapy procedures on Sam, to include but not limited to Stretching, pushing on the nerve hard, trying to get it “to release”, some sort of electrical shock type therapy, even fixing Sam’s running form. These visits went on twice a week for 3 weeks. At the end of three weeks Brad said he had done all he could do and didn’t know anything else to try. He told Sam to rest for a couple weeks and try it out.
November 3rd 2023 - Sam tried to race in the Region event and near the end, about the 2.5 mile mark, the pain returned. We saw Dr Moroski at Blue Ridge Orthopedics. He said the nerve is likely flared up and Sam needs to take a month off. That ended his season and Sam took a month off with no training.
In mid-December Sam started running and training. He felt no issues. During the spring he ran track season fully -- no issues, no pain. He then ran over the summer with no issues and no pain. The school year began and he trained for cross country with no issues, no pain.
He raced on a meet Sept. 11 and felt no issues. He won the race and had no competition and was not pushed hard. This was an easy race for him.
Ten days later he was in a very tough race with competition. Around the 2.5 mile mark the pain came back after nearly a year without it.
Sam says the pain is quick and sharp. Almost feels like a grabbing pain. It lingers for a few moments after he stops running and goes away quickly. Again, the pain is centralized in one specific spot in his right upper abdominal area. The pain does not radiate around from his side or back. It’s just specifically painful in one exact spot.
This issue has only ever happened at the end of races (around the 2.5 mile mark) when he is exhausted and breathing intensely.
My wife isn’t positive it’s a nerve issue; she thinks there could be some sort of diaphragm strain or irritation that’s going on. But, we haven’t been able to get confirmation one way or another.
If there is anyone out there who reads this and has some sort of hunch, or an ability to see him at some point soon, it would be greatly appreciated.
For me, the father of two girls who are excelling for the track and XC programs, it's heartbreaking to see the family of another runner facing obstacles that they simply cannot figure out.
I would love nothing more than to help Sam get the help/expertise he needs so this can get resolved and he can spend the rest of his high school career kicking ass and taking names.
Thank y'all so much for reading.
sports.yahoo.com
