17-05-2025
SF woman overcomes injury, runs Boston Marathon
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A Sioux Falls woman qualified for and completed this year's Boston Marathon. With the help of her doctors, she was able to overcome an injury just weeks before the race.
Heather Tietjen is usually the one caring for patients as a nurse at Sanford Hospital. But last fall, she sought out help for hip pain that was making it hard to train for races, like the Boston Marathon.
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Doctors told her a torn labrum in her hip had been causing inflammation.
'When you think about the elements of your training as far as like nutrition and sleep and recovery, I wasn't getting the recovery from sleep and I wasn't getting good workouts in either,' Heather Tietjen said.
Though she'd already qualified, Tietjen was nervous if she'd be healthy enough to compete. About a month before the race, her doctors recommended an injection to reduce the inflammation in her hip.
'I was kind of hesitant. I wanted to fix the problem,' Tietjen said. 'I didn't want to just kind of put a Band-Aid on it, and he's like, no, I think this would actually help you fix the problem.'
She was referred to Dr. Donella Herman, a Sanford Health primary care sports medicine doctor, who used an ultrasound to pinpoint the area of pain. She gave her two injections in that area.
'She was working with PT before she came to me, which I think really helped us kind of figure out where her pain was coming from,' Dr. Herman said. 'They were able to kind of work on some muscle imbalance and some tightness in different places.'
After just two visits, Tietjen and her doctors could see results.
'The steroid that we use is just a powerful anti-inflammatory. When it gets into a region where there is inflammation, it basically chemically works to reduce our body's response to produce that inflammation,' Dr. Herman said.
It's helped Tietjen not only conquer the Boston Marathon, but prepare for more races down the road pain free.
'I actually finished it faster than the time I'd done Boston before,' Tietjen said. 'I felt good at the end. I remember being able to cheer on so many people and being excited.'
Tietjen's next race is the Mickelson Trail Half Marathon. Later this year, she plans to run in the Chicago Marathon.
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