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Is Traumatophobia Taking Over Your Gym?
The anxiety that’s harming hardcore athletes
Kate Mroz-Weinstein suffered a few aches and pains after she picked up distance running to relieve the stress of writing her doctoral dissertation. Yet despite the discomfort, she eventually got so good at it that she qualified to run the most prestigious road race on the planet: the Boston Marathon.
That race was just four weeks away when, on the morning she was to defend her dissertation, Mroz-Weinstein went on a seven-mile training run to clear her head and heard a snap.
Her sacroiliac joint — where the lower spine and pelvis connect — had come out of alignment, her doctor told her. The injury caused such severe lower-back pain that she could hardly walk. Her next visit was to the physical therapist.
“My PT said it would be fine,” she said. But Mroz-Weinstein wasn’t fine. “I was a complete mess. I would start crying if anything hurt.”
Even though she was still in pain, Mroz-Weinstein recovered enough to struggle through the marathon. But she didn’t experience the elation she had expected when she crossed the finish line, and she didn’t return to her usual running regimen after the race. Instead, at 29, she was immobilized by fear that she would hurt herself again.
