[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2019\/04\/craig-patient-story\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2019\/04\/craig-patient-story\/","headline":"From Hip Surgery to Appalachian Trail Hike in Less Than a Year","name":"From Hip Surgery to Appalachian Trail Hike in Less Than a Year","description":"Craig Uhler of Williamsport isn\u2019t one to sit still for very long.\u00a0Last year, his job as a land surveyor had him on his feet and\u00a0in the\u00a0outdoors most of the\u00a0time.\u00a0His hobbies\u00a0had\u00a0him hiking and running almost every day. Craig\u00a0has\u00a0run a marathon, finished a triathlon,\u00a0and completed\u00a0dozens of\u00a0long\u00a0trail\u00a0runs, but his\u00a0goal\u00a0was\u00a0to hike the Appalachian Trail. To prepare for the long […]","datePublished":"2019-04-01","dateModified":"2022-06-21","author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/","name":"UPMC","url":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/","sameAs":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/upmc\/","parentOrganization":"UPMC"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"UPMC HealthBeat","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/687A1159a_0-scaled.jpg","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/687A1159a_0-scaled.jpg","height":1006,"width":2048},"url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2019\/04\/craig-patient-story\/","about":["Living and Wellness"],"wordCount":1111,"keywords":["physical therapy"],"articleBody":"Craig Uhler of Williamsport isn\u2019t one to sit still for very long.\u00a0Last year, his job as a land surveyor had him on his feet and\u00a0in the\u00a0outdoors most of the\u00a0time.\u00a0His hobbies\u00a0had\u00a0him hiking and running almost every day. Craig\u00a0has\u00a0run a marathon, finished a triathlon,\u00a0and completed\u00a0dozens of\u00a0long\u00a0trail\u00a0runs, but his\u00a0goal\u00a0was\u00a0to hike the Appalachian Trail.To prepare for the long hike, he planned\u00a0to run trail races throughout 2018 and use the winter to build muscle in the gym.\u00a0His plans changed on\u00a0October\u00a07,\u00a02018,\u00a0when\u00a0he was running\u00a0the\u00a0Green Monster 25K\u00a0trail race in the Tioga State Forest near Wellsboro, PA.\u00a0As Craig began the long race, he felt some muscle pain in his knee\u00a0which\u00a0started to slow\u00a0him down. The pain was getting worse, but he kept going \u2014 until mile six, when everything changed.A Devastating Injury\u00a0\u201cI suddenly couldn\u2019t put weight on my leg,\u201d said Craig. \u201cI knew I had over a mile until the next aid station, so I just kept trying to move ahead.\u201dAfter waving off several\u00a0people, he finally accepted help from two runners who realized\u00a0he\u00a0was in trouble. With a person on each shoulder,\u00a0Craig\u00a0was\u00a0carried to the aid station at mile eight where he got a ride back to the starting line.\u00a0From there, he went\u00a0directly\u00a0to the Emergency\u00a0Room\u00a0at UPMC Wellsboro.\u201cI felt\u00a0pain\u00a0radiating from my knee, but\u00a0the x-ray didn\u2019t show any problems,\u201d explains Craig. \u201cThe doctor thought I might\u00a0have sprained my knee. I was\u00a0given\u00a0crutches,\u00a0and I followed up with my family doctor a few days later.\u201dSpecialized Care for an Athlete\u00a0With a 2,192-mile hike planned, Craig\u2019s doctor wanted to make sure he saw the appropriate\u00a0specialist\u00a0so he referred him to\u00a0Ronald Campbell, MD,\u00a0a sports medicine specialist\u00a0at UPMC\u00a0Williamsport.After an examination and more\u00a0x-rays, Craig was told he had a broken femur, right near the hip socket.\u00a0The femur,\u00a0also called the thighbone, spans the distance from your hip to your knee. It\u00a0is the longest and strongest bone in your body, and\u00a0because the femur is so strong, it usually takes a lot of force to break it.\u201cWhen they told me the bone was broken, they couldn\u2019t believe I had been driving\u00a0and hobbling around for\u00a010\u00a0days,\u201d\u00a0explained Craig.\u00a0\u201cApparently, I have an extremely high pain threshold.\u201dDr. Campbell isn\u2019t 100% sure how the break\u00a0occurred, but\u00a0can only assume Craig was training on a stress fracture that was undiagnosed. The fracture\u00a0probably\u00a0grew weaker with time and finally snapped during the race in Wellsboro.\u201cOnce I found out I broke my femur, my next question was \u2014 will I be able to start my hike in March?\u201d remembers Craig. \u201cI wanted to make sure that the surgery would make my hip indestructible.\u201dCraig didn\u2019t understand just how high his pain threshold was until the doctor told him he was going straight to the hospital to be admitted, and\u00a0he would have surgery in the morning. During surgery, Dr. Campbell stabilized Craig\u2019s femur and hip with a plate and several screws.\u201cIt all happened so quickly,\u201d said Craig. \u201cI am\u00a0thankful\u00a0that Dr. Campbell explained everything in detail and answered all of my questions. He came to talk\u00a0to me\u00a0the night before surgery,\u00a0and then\u00a0again\u00a0right before surgery. I knew I was in good hands.\u201dRecovery and Training\u00a0The first six\u00a0weeks, Craig had to rest\u00a0\u2014\u00a0no driving, no working, and no training. Physical therapy\u00a0would\u00a0start after a full recovery from surgery, and Craig\u00a0would\u00a0begin to\u00a0build strength\u00a0to\u00a0hike\u00a0the Appalachian Trail.\u201cLuckily for me, I had an amazing physical therapy team,\u201d\u00a0Craig\u00a0said. \u201cMy\u00a0physical\u00a0therapist,\u00a0Kristen\u00a0Rehm\u00a0from\u00a0UPMC\u00a0Williamsport,\u00a0was a runner\u00a0as well,\u00a0and she understood how important my lifestyle was, so she created a treatment plan that fit me.\u201dCraig went to physical therapy two days a week for seven weeks. Kristen\u00a0assigned exercises for him to do at home, and as soon as his scar healed,\u00a0she cleared him to begin a swimming program at the local YMCA.\u00a0When he was 100% weight-bearing on his injured leg, he started working\u00a0out at the gym.\u201cBeing able to work on my strength and fitness outside of the physical therapy office did a lot to boost my spirits and keep me focused,\u201d said Craig.Physical therapy ended on January\u00a025, 2019,\u00a0and\u00a0Craig planned\u00a0to start his\u00a0six-month\u00a0long\u00a0hike on March 20. He knew he still had a lot of training to do to make sure he was strong enough.\u201cI swam, jogged, hiked, and lifted \u2014 anything to start building the muscles back up,\u201d he said. \u201cTo keep my goal in mind and remember how far I\u00a0had come,\u00a0I got a tattoo of the\u00a0x-ray.\u201dHiking the Appalachian Trail\u00a0On March 20, Craig was ready to start his adventure.\u00a0The first section of the\u00a0trail at Amicalola Falls has 604 steps. When Craig started up those steps, he wasn\u2019t so sure he was ready.\u201cLooking back, it must have been first-day jitters,\u201d he said. \u201cI hooked up with two other hikers,\u00a0and we hiked 12 miles together on my first day.\u201dOn August\u00a027, Craig completed his journey. The monumental achievement after such a devastating injury reminded him that life is short.\u201cIt is important you go after what you want and live your best possible life,\u201d said Craig.Redemption Race\u00a0In order for\u00a0Craig to feel closure about his injury, he wanted to complete the race where he broke his leg, the Green Monster 25K. That meant continuing training even though he had just walked from Georgia to Maine.\u201cMy follow-up appointment with Dr. Campbell showed no sign of any damage from all the walking\u00a0there wasn\u2019t even evidence of the original break aside from the titanium rods,\u201d said Craig.Even with Dr. Campbell\u2019s reassurance, there were still a lot of jitters on October 13th\u00a0\u2014\u00a0race day.\u201cThankfully for me, I had my family and friends there to support me at the race,\u201d\u00a0said Craig. \u201cWhen I passed the spot where just 12 months\u00a0ago\u00a0I had been broken, beat down,\u00a0and completely exhausted, I\u00a0took a second\u00a0to\u00a0take it all in and\u00a0think about how far I had come.\u201dIn the end,\u00a0Craig placed\u00a0fifth\u00a0out of 130\u00a0finishers in two hours and forty-three minutes.\u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe all that I have come through and seen in the last year, but it only solidifies the fact that I am exactly where I am supposed to be,\u201d said Craig."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2019","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2019\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"04","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2019\/\/04\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"From Hip Surgery to Appalachian Trail Hike in Less Than a Year","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2019\/04\/craig-patient-story\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]