{"id":161369,"date":"2020-05-27T13:00:21","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T17:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?post_type=school-college-post&p=161369"},"modified":"2020-05-27T13:53:45","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T17:53:45","slug":"uconn-health-nurse-finds-new-perspective-running-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2020\/05\/uconn-health-nurse-finds-new-perspective-running-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Health Nurse Finds New Perspective After Running Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

At some point, most runners deal with injury.\u00a0 Whether it sidelines you completely from running or just requires adjustments to your routine, injury can be mentally frustrating.<\/p>\n

One avid runner bouncing back from a debilitating injury, ironically, is also a nurse practitioner specializing in treating patients at UConn Health with the same injury she experienced.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jocelyn Libros, a nurse practitioner at UConn Health, is recovering from an injury and set to run the UConn Health Half Marathon, 10k, 5k on June 4-7 (Photo Credit: Hartford Marathon).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jocelyn Libros is training for the\u00a0UConn Health Half Marathon, 10K & 5K<\/a> being held virtually June 4-7. As a nurse practitioner at UConn Health’s Comprehensive Spine Center, Libros has seen\u00a0countless patients come through with injuries that sideline them from running.\u00a0 A four-time marathon finisher who has an active race schedule herself, Libros has always been empathetic for injured runners and proud to work alongside orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Mallozzi in helping patients through spine surgery and recovery.<\/p>\n

Libros was about 12 years old when she started running with her dad, who was in the military and ran for his physical training.\u00a0 She ran cross country and track through school and after college began racing half marathons.\u00a0 She worked up to her first full marathon in 2010, training with her sister-in-law to complete 26.2 miles in Burlington, Vermont.<\/p>\n

As mom to two boys, ages 5 and 7, Libros feels half marathon training works better for her life now.\u00a0\u00a0She ran the UConn Health Half Marathon last June after racing the half marathon in Mystic the month before.\u00a0 It wasn’t until after the Surftown Half Marathon and the fall running season that she started experiencing pain.<\/p>\n

What started as mild lower back pain and pain in her legs got increasingly worse.\u00a0 She consulted with her\u00a0colleagues and discovered she had a disc herniation.\u00a0 After undergoing physical therapy and injections to ease the pain, Libros reached the point where she could barely walk, never mind run or exercise, and faced having spine surgery herself.<\/p>\n

In late March, as the country began shutting down to address the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Isaac Moss, chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and a spine surgeon at UConn Health, performed discectomy surgery on Libros.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team was absolutely incredible,\u201d says Libros. \u201cBeing on the patient side, the care I received was amazing and I can’t thank Dr. Moss and nurse practitioner Shantay Wells enough for relieving the unbearable pain I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first two weeks post-surgery were the toughest with weight restrictions and not being able to drive, but as Libros improved so did her mobility and she was able to slowly start exercise, as tolerated.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jocelyn Libros (Photo Credit: Hartford Marathon Foundation). <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Returning to work at the end of April after three weeks of recovery, Libros\u2019 day to day is very different right now.\u00a0\u00a0 Patient care has been handled primarily through telephone visits and the clinic just opened the week of May 18; but her perspective is very different as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I understand my patients and what they go through so much more now having done it myself, said Libros. \u201cWhen they describe their symptoms, I can reassure them about how they can improve and deal with their injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UConn Health Half Marathon, 10K and 5K is Libros\u2019 hometown race. She competed in the half in Simsbury last year and loves the course, event set-up and how family-friendly it is for her husband and sons to cheer her on.\u00a0 This year’s race will feel different for Libros, and not just because it’ll be a virtual challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to think that if I ever couldn\u2019t run, I wouldn\u2019t know what I would do,\u201d said Libros.\u00a0\u201cBut going through this experience, I realize I\u2019m ok to take it easy, run for fun and do shorter races to get back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Register online for the June 4-7\u00a0UConn Health Half Marathon, 10K & 5K<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One avid runner bouncing back from a debilitating injury, ironically, is also a nurse practitioner specializing in treating patients at UConn Health with the same injury she experienced. \u00a0Learn more about Jocelyn Libros’ injury recovery and her plans to run the\u00a0UConn Health Half Marathon, 10K & 5K on June 4-7. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":161377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1868],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-161369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meds"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 11:53:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161378,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161369\/revisions\/161378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/161377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161369"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=161369"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=161369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}