Middle distance runner Gabriela DeBues-Stafford has overcome multiple injuries throughout her career, including a season-ending stress reaction in her sacrum last summer—but she always bounces back. She’s managed to return to top form over and over again despite setbacks, placing fifth in the 1500 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and setting six Canadian national outdoor and indoor records. However, after her recent Diamond League races in Europe, her sacroiliac (SI) joints, which connects the pelvis and lower spine, became inflamed and painful to the point where she couldn’t even walk.
In an update she posted to Instagram on Saturday, DeBues-Stafford shared details of the journey she’s been on to relieve that pain and return to training. She said that despite an MRI and bone scan showing that the sacrum was healthy, there was still inflammation of the pubis symphysis. While relieved that the pain wasn’t being caused by another stress fracture, she was frustrated that it was seriously disrupting her training.
For four weeks following that doctor’s visit, DeBues-Stafford was in too much pain to run at all. “This was extremely discouraging and puzzling as this pain was not responding in a predictable way and didn’t really make sense,” she wrote. Previously with this injury, she’s been able to get back to running within a week of time off, but the same remedy didn’t help this time.
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Willing to try just about anything to get to the bottom of it, the 27-year-old and her team decided to have her IUD removed. “We weren’t sure removing it would do anything,” she said, “but given part of my rehab was strengthening and increasing coordination in my pelvic floor muscles and deep core, we thought that a piece of plastic hanging out in my uterus could be causing my pelvic floor muscles to fire suboptimally.”
It turned out to be the right choice. Within 90 minutes of having the IUD removed, DeBues-Stafford said, “the persistent pain that I had in my SI joint for the past 5+ weeks was nearly gone.”
“I hesitate to share my experience with the IUD because I don’t want to contribute to the fear around birth control,” DeBues-Stafford continued, but she wanted to share her experience about potential strange and unexpected side effects athletes can experience, as there’s still a dearth of research and information on these topics. Pelvic inflammatory disease is listed as a “less common risk” associated with the use an IUD by the FDA.
She says she had no issue with her first IUD, which she’d had for five years, and was reluctant to have the current device removed. But after getting the procedure, she feels like she made the right choice. “I am really relieved and finally feel that this injury that was so perplexing is starting to make sense,” she said. “I can now see a path forward to full recovery. In my runs, I feel connected to my body and recognise the way it moves again, and that fills me with so much hope and joy.”
It’s great news for DeBues-Stafford’s recovery and return to training, but she’ll unfortunately be missing another World Championships, and is instead setting her sights on the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Note: If you are experiencing any side effects as a result of using an IUD, consult with your doctor before making any decisions.
Abby Carney is a writer and journalist in New York. A former D1 college runner and current amateur track athlete, she's written about culture and characters in running and outdoor sports for Runner's World, Like the Wind Magazine, The New York Times, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
