Kara Goucher Announces She Has Been Diagnosed with Runner’s Dystonia

By LetsRun.com
February 8, 2022

On Tuesday, two-time Olympian Kara Goucher announced on Instagram that she has been diagnosed with runner’s dystonia, a rare neurological movement disorder affecting the ability to run.

“This past week I was a patient in the neurology department at the Mayo Clinic,” wrote Goucher. “The doctor confirmed repetitive exercise dystonia, and tried to tell me, as gently as possible, that the more I run the worse my symptoms will get. I have to drastically cut back or not only will I lose the ability to run at all, I will struggle to walk as well.”

The 43-year-old Goucher, a two-time US Olympian and silver medalist at 10,000 meters at the 2007 World Championships, said she first began developing symptoms following a fall in December 2020.

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“I had a hard time staying on my feet while out running,” Goucher wrote. “It felt like I was slipping and it was scary, I’d throw my arms out for balance.”

This past fall, the symptoms worsened, affecting Goucher not only while she was running, but walking as well.

“I began to struggle to walk outside, unable to control my legs or have confidence they would stay planted,” Goucher wrote.

After visiting multiple neurologists, Goucher was diagnosed with runner’s dystonia, a type of focal dystonia, a disorder that causes involuntary muscle contraction during specific activities. The condition is rare, but Nate Jenkins, who finished 7th at the 2008 US Olympic Marathon Trials, is another prominent runner who has dealt with it.

In 2018, Runner’s World’s Cindy Kuzma published a helpful article about the condition in which Mayo Clinic movement disorders specialist Jeremy Cutsforth-Gregory explained what happens when one tries to run with it.

“For normal action, you should be able to fire one [muscle fiber] and inhibit all the surrounding fibers,” said Dr. Cutsforth-Gregory. “But if that’s impaired, you fire what you want, but you also fire the other stuff. You end up with too many muscles contracting.”

That is what has been happening with Goucher and may explain why Goucher was notably absent from NBC’s recent broadcasts of the Millrose Games and New Balance Indoor Grand Prix after providing color commentary for the network’s coverage of the US Olympic Trials and Olympics in 2021.

Goucher concluded her post by noting that she was grateful to have avoided a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis or ALS. But while Goucher said she has started on Parkinson’s medication, which has improved her condition, there is no known cure. Which leaves her in an uncertain place and means a fundamental shift in her relationship with the activity that has defined her life.

“Losing running in the way I love it is something I’m struggling to accept,” Goucher wrote. “People have said I’m addicted to running and they are right. I loved running before I knew I was good at it. It made me feel alive, to push, to feel my lungs expand. It has been one of the most glorious aspects of my life. From the silent meditation on a solo run to representing my country at the Olympic Games. I’m not sure where running ends and I begin, we are so entertained as one. I’m unsure what the future holds, but I’m trying to embrace it.”

For more on runner’s dystonia, there is a 60+ page LetsRun messageboard thread about the condition begun in 2006: Loss of coordination in leg – Official runner’s dystonia / focal dystonia discussion thread

Talk about Kara’s announcement on our messageboard: MB: Kara Goucher reveals she’s been falling at times on runs and Mayo Clinic determines she’s battling runner’s dystonia.

Currently, Instagram’s embed feature is down but you can access Goucher’s full instagram post here.

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