Reese: I had the hamstring cramp over the summer, and then I wasn’t able to run for more than 0.3 miles. I would be in debilitating pain and I saw a lot of people. I was in Africa over the summer, so I didn’t have many resources while I was there, but I was able to actually see someone when I was in South Africa. And yeah, then I came home and I had very short window to see people at home for coming back to school, and we went from a nerve thing to compartment syndrome to really targeted my ankle for a long time, which granted my ankle mobility was horrible. It’s gotten a lot better now, so I’m really proud of that. And then eventually finally got back onto the nerve thing, but there was a time in there where I really wondered if my career was over.
Dr. Gina Fick: Welcome to the PT Rebels podcast. This is the place to learn how you can become a PT rebel and take charge of your own health and wellness. We will help you find answers to your questions about pain, injury, and the path towards healing in the most efficient and effective way possible. I’m your host, Dr. Gina Fick.
On today’s episode, I’d like to step into the heart and mind of a current collegiate, track and field athlete, and gain perspective on what it means to be a champion and how you can overcome challenges and obstacles as a high level athlete. I’d like to welcome my good friend Reese Kovich to the podcast. Reese is currently a junior at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, and she is a mid-distance runner and very successful track and field athlete at Hillsdale College. Reese, welcome to the podcast.
Reese: Thank you. It’s good to be here.
Dr. Gina: It’s great to have you on. Reese, can you tell us how we met, how long we’ve known each other, and just a little bit about yourself and your career at Hillsdale College.
Reese: We’ve known each other since I was probably 10 years old to the long time met when I was doing track in middle school. And I think initially it’s ’cause I was running with Ryan, but then I got injured of course. And so started seeing you from almost day one. I’ve been seeing you ever since because I just can’t get enough. Yeah. But yeah, I ran through middle school, high school and still running now, so I still need PT all the time. But Hillsdale’s been great. Been running 400, 800, mainly the 800, and we’ve had some success in the four by four as well. Been blessed with some awesome teammates, so that’s been super fun. But yeah, excited going into my third year, ready for some more fun on the track. I think I finally figured out how to run the 800, so that’s good.
Dr. Gina: So tell us a little bit about your background and why you chose Hillsdale and what you value about your student athlete experience there.
Reese: Yeah. Hillsdale was on my list from the start, but it started on my list because it was a division two school and I was told it’d be good practice for division one schools so I could talk to the coach. Practice ’cause I wouldn’t go division two. Yeah, my high school was very much go division one and they were preparing you for that, which isn’t a horrible thing, but I now know I would not enjoy that experience. It’s a very different experience. So all of high school, I was very much, I’m gonna go division one, and my second criteria was I’m gonna go near family, which meant North Carolina or Colorado. So clearly neither of those two things worked out because I’m in Michigan and I knew no one here, but as the process went on, schools just kept getting knocked off the list, knocked off the list.
I talked to a lot of schools, a lot of coaches, a lot of them I found. I was like, I don’t wanna go here. Or the coaches were like, you don’t actually really want you here. And I was like, okay, cool. And I remember telling Coach Copeland and he said, where are you interested in, and if you had to choose right now, where would you go? I was like, I guess I’d go to Hillsdale, but that’ll probably change. That’s just ’cause it’s the only school right now and I think I committed like a month later, once I’m gonna go there.
But yeah, I picked Hillsdale mainly because of its uniqueness. It’s an incredibly unique environment here. Community, it’s a very small school. I think my largest class last year had 19 students, 20 students. You get to know your professors very personally. It’s a liberal arts education, which I greatly appreciate, and so I was really drawn in by the fact that if I didn’t run track, there’s nowhere else I would rather go than Hillsdale, which ended up being a very good decision because my coach actually left the end of my freshman year. He still works for the college, actually, but he’s no longer the coach.
And so I was just really struck by that. Like when he left, obviously I really, really liked him. I was very sad about that. But I remember telling him, you’re the reason I got interested in Hillsdale. I’m like, you convinced me to come here, but you’re not the reason I’m staying here. I really like you, but you’re not the reason I’m staying. I truly just love this school. I love, um, my teammates. Even if my career ended now, I wouldn’t leave Hillsdale College, which I think was a really good thing that my parents put into me of, you can’t pick a school just because of a sports team and a coach, because that’s gonna change whether you get injured or the coach leaves or whatever. You have to pick a school that you truly enjoy and truly love. And I did, and I’ve never regretted it and I love it here.
Dr. Gina: I don’t know if you remember this Reese, but I remember when you were in our house, Reese would, Reese used to come over to our house and I would do physical therapy with her. We had a talk one night because you were in what felt like a little bit of a dilemma between division one and division two. I, I think I was able to shed a little bit of insight just on my experience and I clearly remember that night in that conversation. And can you talk a little bit about some of the conversation that we had about the pressure to go D one, but now that you have perspective from a D two standpoint, what are some of the benefits and things that you value from the division two level that you may not have been able to get from a Division one experience.
Reese: I think the biggest thing that I can remember us talking about and I talked about with other people as well, was just the difference of division one being a business and division two. Obviously it is still a business in a sense, but much less, and the coaches in division two have very different priorities. There is a much bigger emphasis on academics. When you get into vision into division two, the joke we have is division two athletes are actually student athletes and everybody else is just athletes, which obviously is not true, but we do have a much bigger emphasis on academics and doing well. I have multiple teammates missing the meet this weekend because they’re taking the MCAT and that’s not even a second rod. It’s, yeah, we’re taking them mcat, sorry, coach and go coaches. They’re like, good luck. So that’s a big difference.
But really just the business aspects. I had many teammates go division one. Actually, I think it may have been all my teammates that went to compete in college in my class in high school went division one, except for me initially and multiple transferred multiple are not running anymore. My cousin transferred to division two and loves it now. So it’s just, it’s a very different atmosphere and I think the high school team that I was on was very much a family, very much. We’re in this together, the coaches are gonna mentor you, they’re going to walk alongside you. And that’s not something you find in division one as often. That’s not to say it’s not there, but it’s not something you greatly find.
And I think the thing I love the most about division two is obviously we have standards to get on the team. It’s not like anyone can just walk on, but once you’re on the team, the coaches do deeply care about you, and I see my coach pouring into every single person in our event group, whether you’re the fastest one or the slowest one we have. And I think that’s something that’s very unique about being on a smaller team at a smaller school. And when everything is smaller, I think that’s always better. You’re able to control it more, but also you’re able to instill your vision and the community and the atmosphere that you want much easier.
Yeah. And so my coaches are like my mentors, they care about me as a whole person. They ask about our classes, they make sure we’re doing well in class. Sometimes they’re out in the academic buildings to say hi. They’ll come eat lunch with us in the dining hall. I’m not sure if that’s just ’cause they love us. I think they also just love the dining room. So it’s very much like they are mentors. They want us to succeed in life more than just doing well in track. And I think that’s something that’s really special that you should definitely look for in a coach and in an environment.
’cause even when my coach left, that was the environment that all the other coaches were also bought into. And I think it’s something that’s really special that I have a relationship with every single coach on our team, I run 800. I only work with our sprint hurdles coach, but I have a relationship with our head coach who’s the distance coach and our jumps coach. Our throws coach, and it’s just something that’s really special. They care, they want you to do well. I think I had a big PR last year and the very first person to congratulate me and give me a hug at the end was our throws coach. And she was, she was so into the race and ran up to the finish line. It was really special of having that community across the whole team and not just with the one coach that you see every day.
Dr. Gina: Yeah, I love that and I think what I like seeing the most is that you’re having a great experience and you’re having fun and even through some of the trials that you’ve had and obstacles you’ve been able to maintain a really good foundation academically and also socially with your friends and your network of coaches. And I think, you know, that is something that’s so valuable in your overall experience. I think you gain even more insight probably every year into that as you do face some obstacles and challenges. So that being said, can you talk about some of the challenges that you’ve had as an athlete, maybe in high school and also in college with injury, and you’ve been able to overcome those obstacles, not only physically with physical therapy, but also just mentally and how you’ve worked through that.
Reese: Yeah. I have had lots of injuries. I think my first big injury that I remember was I tore my hamstring going into my freshman year of high school, and I thought this was like the end of the world. And I remember this injury so well because it’s the first time that you convinced me to get dry needle, and I was terrified out my mind. And then I think I was struggling with his injury for like two or three weeks. Finally agreed to get dry needled. And then it was like the next week I was running again or something and I was like, man, I’m an idiot. And anyway, so now I can’t say no. I get dry needled all the time. I actually love dry needling. It’s crazy.
But yeah, so that was like my first injury and then I ended up with a like stress fracture in my shin my freshman year, and that was really hard. I think that was the first time I really had my eyes opened to the fact that I was pouring my heart and soul into this sport and nothing else. And so that kind of started a trajectory in my life to not do that, to not pour my life into track. That’s not my identity. That’s not who I am. And what really became my foundation was my faith. And just building upon that, working into that, which I think is become very evident as I’ve chosen to be a religion major, which really, here’s a theology major that’s really become the core of my identity. That’s what I wanna do in my life. Like you were saying, the best part about this is I’m having fun and I’m building a community.
At the end of the day, I don’t want to be a professional runner. This isn’t something I’m gonna do my entire life. My goals are much bigger than that. I wanna do a lot more than just run fair. Those injuries really helped me there. They also really got me into pt. I love physical therapy. I could go hang out at the clinic for hours. I probably have way too many times. But I think the one thing that my personal life has been impacted by PT in itself has obviously been health, but I was thinking about this the other day. I’m very rarely motivated to do pt. It is just not something I greatly enjoy doing, but it’s something that’s I’ve found to be so important and that’s kept me so healthy.
And so what it really has come down to is just the discipline of doing it and finding people you want to do it with. Like I said, I spend hours just AP clinic when I’m home and I spend hours in our at room here building that discipline of knowing what’s important, what’s good. Oftentimes the only things we’re motivated to do are the things we just want to do. ’cause they’re easy and fun and life is not always like that. We have to do things that we don’t want to do, and it’s just really building that discipline.
There’ve been days I’ve been injured the past six months. We didn’t know what it was, you know, for a long time. You figured it out quickly. But then other people kind of. Then I came back to school and then we finally figured it out again. But anyway, there were days where I did not want to do my rehab, and I was like, I am so tired. But it was never a question in my mind that I was gonna do it, because it’s just been drilled into me like discipline is so much more important than motivation. And so I think that’s been a really cool thing to see. I was thinking about that last night. I was like, oh, that’s nice. Got the discipline going and that’s good.
But yeah, this past injury, I think was probably the hardest one I’ve dealt with just because it was so prolonged and it was very unknown. I had the hamstring cramp over the summer and then I wasn’t able to run for more than 0.3 miles. I’d be in debilitating pain and I saw a lot of people. I was in Africa over the summer, so I didn’t have many resources while I was there, but I was able to actually see someone when I was in South Africa and. And then I came home and I had a very short window to see people at home for coming back to school.
And we went from a nerve thing to compartment syndrome to really targeted my ankle for a long time, which granted my ankle mobility was horrible. It’s gotten a lot better now, so I’m really proud of that. And then eventually, finally got back onto the nerve thing. But there was a time in there where I really wondered if my career was over. And I’ve said, there’s times when I’ve wanted my career to be over. You have a horrible race, you have a bad string of races, whatever, and you’re just like, I’m done. I don’t wanna do this anymore. But I’ve never like truly thought, this might be the end. Like I might never be able to run again, at least competitively.
I really struggled with that for a while because I was like, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. And just came back to that square one of, okay, who am I? Where am I getting my value from? Because at the end of the day, it can’t be track and sealed and it really shouldn’t be anything of this world because they’re all gonna fall apart at some point and they’re gonna get hard. Even relationships get hard and school you get bad grades, you mean you run bad races.
So I really went back to my faith and luckily since I’m a religion major, I read a lot of the Bible and do a lot of that for school Anyways, I definitely had the opportunity to pour into my faith and really just search that out and search myself and figure out, okay, why am I endearing this? What am I doing this for? And at the end of the day, who am I? And it really comes down to I’m a child of God. I’m not a runner. I like to run. I think it’s a lot of fun and I hope I do it for a long time, but that’s not who I am. And I think that was a really beautiful thing that came of this.
Thankfully we did figure out what it is, and I’ve been on the road to getting back into running. I did a workout yesterday, which was a lot of fun. And so I don’t think my career’s over, which is very good. But it definitely was and still is a big learning lesson. Um, especially getting back into it. I think it’s easy to learn these lessons when we’re injured, be like, yeah, my identity’s in Christ. And then you start running again and you’re like, okay, now it’s in running again. ’cause I can do this and I need to do it well.
But really just having that unknown of I’m healthy, but we don’t know how long that’s gonna last type of thing. Hopefully it, we’re good now. It just keeps on going, but I’m wildly out of shape compared to my teammates, Jeff. And just knowing, not falling into comparison, not falling into negative self-talk and negative self-image because I’m on a totally different path, totally different track than everybody else right now, and really just relying my face, even as I start running again had been definitely very hard. It’s been a learning lesson.
I didn’t feel like this whole past semester was learning a big lesson, but it’s been a, it’s been a very beautiful thing and I think especially as I start training again, um, I got to do a workout with a teammate yesterday, which was really special. As I start getting back into that, I can see these lessons that I learned in that time more, and just the relationships I’ve been able to build with teammates has been cool. Just getting random texts from teammates throughout the year and seeing them, just their encouragement and them pushing me, you’re not done yet. We’re gonna finish this out. We’re running another four by four. We’re getting back in the midst. So it’s been definitely a time of growth throughout every injury, but I think always what it comes back to is this is not who you are. This can’t be who you are, and you need be seeking Christ above all else. And that’s when life gets really beautiful.
Dr. Gina: I agree, and I know that looking back on some of the challenges I faced as high school and collegiate athlete injury, I think you realized how much of a gift it is that you’ve been given. And then when that’s taken away, it really forces you to do soul searching and take a step back and realize where your priorities are and what your foundation is. And I think that’s the beautiful thing is that you’ve been able to do that. And I’ve seen you do that with a lot of grace. I’m sure there’s a lot of hard day and tears and um, yes. That maybe having a moment there, but that’s completely normal. And I think it’s how you start to go through and work through the day to day of all of that.
I think for you, one of the biggest challenges was not really knowing exactly what was wrong, because in the past when you’re a freshman and you had a bone stress injury, we knew what it was. We knew what you needed to do. It was really hard because you had to wait a long time and on crutches and a boot, and then working, doing a lot of pull workouts, all of that. But then with this injury, there was a lot of uncertainty and I think that was very challenging when you have so many different people. I think it’s your glute, I think it’s your ankle, and I’m not sure what it is. Let’s do some more testing. Mm-hmm. And can you tell us through all of that, what did you figure out was the cause of your pain and how did the doctors treat that?
Reese: Yeah, it was definitely hard, the uncertainty of it. Um, initially we were like, it’s something with a nerve. Did some nerve flossing exercises, which initially I thought were really weird. I’ll get back into that. ’cause now I love nerve flossing and they’re great exercises, but we did that then thought it was compartment syndrome and I know we were looking into things with that. But I ended up coming back to school and like I said, did a ton of ankle oil rehab, which actually did help with some of the pain management. My ankle mobility was horrible and my ankle strength was horrible. Athletes definitely look into your ankle to a very important joint, and there were movements I just physically couldn’t do because my ankle was so tight.
But initially, after three MRIs, multiple x-rays, multiple tests, um, we ruled everything else out and did an ultrasound on my hamstring and sound a nerve that was pinched, so to speak, in the muscle, and so ended up going with a hydrodisection, which sounds scary. I’ve freaked out, but it’s literally just an injection of water with a little bit of liquid ibuprofen and lidocaine just to calm it down after the injection. But what they did was inject water around the nerve, kind of to create a bubble to break up the scar tissue that was pinching it.
It was crazy actually. ’cause I went in for the first injection and was in pain going in. I was pretty much in pain all the time at this point. And he did the injection. He’s okay. I walk around and I like walked down the hole and had no pain and I was like, eh, kind of magic was that. That’s really weird. And the very next day I ran a mile. And it was crazy and I was like really freaked out with like, what is going on? Isn’t crazy.
Dr. Gina: Yeah. Looking back on it like it would, it was pretty crazy thing. Like mentally I was struggling still at that point, but now that I’m past that mental barrier, I’m like, wow, that was really cool. Like it just works.
Reese: And so then I continued with the nerve flossing, um, a lot, which I love actually. I do nerve flossing on both legs before every practice now, and it just makes me feel really good. So I like it. Um, and continued with some ankle mobility just to make sure my ankles stay good. But then I was able to run for about four weeks, five weeks pretty consistently, and then ended up meeting a second injection in a different spot in my leg. Just missed that spot the first time. It’s not like a reoccurring thing, which was very good news to me. And since that second one, I’ve ch. I basically been able to train fully. I took two days easy after the second injection, and then really just went back into training. We were at the point where kind of had to start just going at it to see what would happen because the season started, and so I’ve really been able to train fully since then. Um, the past two weeks have really been the most consistent normal training that I’ve done six, seven months now.
Dr. Gina: to explain to everyone, um, not versed in this type of injury. Reese at the end of the season had a relatively minor hamstring strain, and then after that we think some scar tissue developed around probably the sciatic nerve in its branches, and that was causing a lot of symptoms and her leg. Can you describe the symptoms that you were having in your leg?
Reese: Yeah, I think this is what made it so difficult because where the nerve was pinched, it was before it branches off. And so I had pain all over my leg, like basically knee down. I had a lot of pain through my knee, and my knee would actually walk up quite a bit too, which was weird. But then down the back of my calf was pain, which kind led to the compartment syndrome idea. But then the weirdest thing was I was having a foot drop when I was running, which was very strange. And I also had pain through my ankle as well, which is what led us to the ankle idea initially. So that was definitely the weirdest thing. ’cause there was pain all over my leg in every direction basically. And ultimately it was just all rooted in my hamstring in like one spot. And once that spot was alleviated all the other pain went away.
Dr. Gina: Oh, the, the procedure that Reese is talking about is called a nerve hydro dissection, and basically it helps to release the scar tissue around the nerve so that the nerve has normal mobility, and then she’s not getting those symptoms down into the leg. And so some of the differential diagnosis that we did that went into it was clearing her lumbar spine. And I felt like that was normal. She had an MRI of her lumbar ring, which was normal, but she did have neural tension and she had neural tension with resisted hamstring activity. So that kinda made me think that there could be a hamstring syndrome going on, but I knew it was advanced just from the fact that she had foot drop and some other things going on in her leg. She really couldn’t run for more than a minute or so, or sometimes less.
Reese: Yeah. And then the symptoms would just start.
Dr. Gina: Right. And the key was getting that diagnostic ultrasound and the doctor did a good job of identifying where the entrapment was and doing the hydro dissection. So I think it speaks to having providers who are willing to listen to you and dive deeper into what the symptoms are and what’s causing it, and not give up and say, oh, it’s just that, or, we’re not sure what it is. And I think your doctor there did a really good job, I think that you could potentially have just missed your whole junior season. So kudos to those doctors and your athletic trainers and your coaches were patient with you, which is really amazing because there’s a lot of programs, especially at the division one level, where they would’ve just moved on and they really would not have put as much energy, I think, into figuring out the problem and being patient with you. So I think that’s another testament to the experience that you’re having there, and I’m really appreciative of that, not only as your friend, but as your physical therapist, that you are able to have that experience.
Reese: Yeah.
Dr. Gina: Can you also speak to how this affected you mentally and the benefits of having a mental health coach or a sports performance coach that is able to help walk you through these things?
Reese: Yeah. That is such a gift that we have here. One, the health center here has free counseling for every student. They had specific counselors who are trained in sports counseling and sports as well, and so one of them actually was on the track team at Hillsdale and she’s amazing. I’ve seen sports therapists off and on just throughout my career. Done mental toughness stuff, whatever. Yeah. When it really hit me was when I actually started running again. The injury itself was very hard, and trying to figure it out was very hard, but then when it was like, okay, you can go run. I was like, what? It’s been six months. No, I can’t.
And just really having to build up trust in my body because I did not believe that it would be fine. And so walking through that and regaining trust and confidence in what I could do, and that’s not even like what I can do racing wise. That was literally just that I could go run the warmup and I was gonna be okay at the end of it. It was really hard. And I think also maintaining that. It’s something I’m still working with because we got to the point where we have to start training, we gotta get into it, and I was cleared to run officially the same day that I was in pain again. So I was cleared to run after the first injection, and I ran that practice and I was like pain again. And a couple days later got the second injection.
And so after the second one, really just trusting. Okay. It’s gonna be okay. Yeah, we’re gonna get there. Was hard, and it still is hard just knowing every practice. I don’t know how it’s gonna end up going and I like to know things, but really getting to the point where I could say, okay, even if this work out ends in pain, we know what the pain is. We know how to treat it. I know how to manage it, and I can trust that this workout was beneficial. Even if it ends in pain, it’s still benefiting me and I think just being able to talk to someone who has had experiences in track, but who’s also a professional and can advise me professionally and actually give me helpful, beneficial things is so important.
I think a lot of athletes don’t want to pursue that. There’s some stigma around it here, I think. I don’t have a problem with it. I’m very open about it. I think it’s a super helpful thing, especially as an athlete because the mental strain that we go through, even not being injured is hard. Being a student athlete, you handle a lot and the mental load is very taxing. And so having someone to talk to but also someone who you can trust is going to give you useful tools and good advice. Yeah, is really helpful and it’s helped me a lot. Um, just regaining trust in my body, in myself, and regaining love and joy for the sport.
My favorite thing that I do now after learning all this stuff is keeping a success log after practice. Basically, at the end of every practice, write down three things that you feel like went well. That practice and when it ultimately ends up being is a gratitude journal. Three things that you’re thankful for that went well, and then one thing that you can learn from the practice and work on. So three to one ratio. Good and bad. I, I do a lot of self-talk because I have a tendency to fall into a lot of negative self-talk. My love language is words of affirmation and so mine negative self-talk.
So along with that journal is like repeating to yourself, my value comes from who I am, not what I do. And everything that happens is in my best interest and is an opportunity to learn and grow. And I think at the end of every practice, full debrief has been really special and healing and beneficial for me as I get back into running. And it’s been cool to see, um, how that’s progressed. ’cause the first couple times I did it was like I ran a lap today with no pain and now I ran a whole workout and felt great, or I felt terrible, but I did it. And just a couple days ago I got to wear spikes for the first time in like six months, seven months, I wore spikes. It was so exciting. So it’s cool to see that progress as well, but the mental aspect is huge. Someone once said track is 90% mental and the rest is in your head.
Dr. Gina: I think one thing that adversity or obstacles bring is that you’re gonna be able to look back at these moments in your life as you continue to get older and grow and you know, get married, have a family. Have a career, whatever it may be. And when you start to go through rough times or challenges, you know that you can build upon what you’ve been through in the past and you can remember what got you through it. Mm-hmm. And I think that’s one of the blessings and gifts from obstacles that I’ve been able to learn is that looking back, those experiences weren’t very fun at the time, but I know now how I was able to get through them and the things that really, the core values and my faith and the things that allowed me to get through those obstacles and challenges are things that I still draw on now. And so I think that’s gonna be true for you as well.
So, looking forward in your career after you graduate from Hillsdale re, what are some of your career goals and how do you feel like some of these challenges will help prepare you to serve others in the future?
Reese: Yeah, I want to teach to some extent. I would love to go into international missions of some kind. Specifically orphan care. My family’s very involved with a ministry in Ethiopia, so I’ve grown up around that, and I would love to do that full-time in the future. Immediate steps after college, probably get a master’s, maybe two master’s, I don’t know. We’ll see. And potentially pursue a PhD in theology as well. I’m a nerd. I like that kind of thing, so we’ll see. I would also love to coach. I think coaches have one of the biggest impacts on a kid’s life, whether that’s good or bad. And I’ve been blessed with very amazing coaches and so I would like to be that for someone else. I still keep up with my coaches from middle school and high school. I, my coaches here are amazing. I love them. Um, and just I’ve seen an impact on my life in huge ways. In track. I’ve learned so much and so I love to be able to do that as well.
Yeah, I definitely think one thing that track really teaches you and prepares you for is just unity in the midst of diversity. Yeah. Track is a very weird sport. We have the most diverse team of any sport ever. I could not physically do the other events on our team and we can’t crossover. If one of our throwers goes down, I’m not stepping in for them. I physically can’t do that. But then at the same time, we