Prognosis negative

   This week I started physical therapy on my hip. Mike evaluated me on Monday & did some kind of magical adjustment to my back that made a frightening noise but made me feel better & help me regain some flexibility. He showed me some exercises that I need to do every day for strengthening & flexibility. Today I met with Abby and she had me run through the exercises, then taught me a new one, and then massaged my IT band (OUCH!). 
   The diagnosis is a "partial thickness tear" of my labrum, the pain from which is making me limp, which is causing lower back pain & popping. My IT bands (between the knee & hip on the outside of the leg) are very tight. And the muscles on the inside of my thigh at the knee are weaker than my quads, so the muscles don't "fire" at the same time, which causes my quads to pull my kneecaps to the outside, causing pain & popping. (I had been diagnosed with this while running cross country in high school, but never fully addressed it.)
   Mike said that if I decide to forgo the surgery now to repair the labrum, if I don't develop a full range of motion again, I could get arthritis in the hip later, and eventually need a total hip replacement. @*#$!!! Seriously, I'm 35. Nothing is further from my mind than "total hip replacement." Sigh.
   Despite my stubbornness, Abby strongly advised against doing the race at the zoo tomorrow morning, which I've been looking forward to all year. "Run for the Polar Bears." She said it wasn't worth the risk of exacerbating my hip. So instead I'll go to yoga & swim, & do my stretches. This is a real bummer. I had a goal of running at least one race per month this year, and I made it all the way through August. I'll be sure to give it a go again once they've made me bionic.