Dayton will be down for days because of a torn hip muscle

Updated throughout

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton is cancelling all of his public appearances this week because of a torn muscle in his hip and said that when he returns in public he will use a cane or crutch.

In a late afternoon release, Dayton told the tale of his injury.

"Early Saturday afternoon, I was hurrying down the stairs at the residence to go to a DFL beanbag event. Since it was very casual, I had on my jeans and sneakers. I took the bottom two steps together, landed on my left leg, and pivoted toward the hallway. Suddenly I felt and heard a loud 'pop," Dayton said in an email shared with reporters.

The painful pop, he learned Monday when he visited the Mayo Clinic was the result of an injury he sustained to the Sartorius muscle in his left hip. The muscle had also torn and detached from his hipbone.

His doctors recommended the 66-year-old governor rest, do physical therapy and use a cane or crutch for weeks.

The governor had planned to appear at Wednesday's grand opening of Endeavor Air at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport but his office announced shortly before that event that he would not attend. Endeavor, formerly known as Pinnacle Airlines, received a $550,000 forgivable loan from the state to relocate to the MSP airport.

Last week, Dayton was on a trade mission in Europe and returned on Friday. His first public appearance since that trip was on Tuesday. In answer to a reporter's question, Dayton, who did not have a noticeable limp, re-iterated that he plans to run for re-election next year.

The governor was scheduled to appear at a series of re-election fundraisers and in Sunday's Twin Cities Gay Pride parade, which is expected to be particularly joyous given the U.S. Supreme Court's decision striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Hume said Dayton, who signed a law legalizing same-sex marriage last month, was delighted at the Supreme Court ruling.