HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS!
(ahem).
Sorry for shouting, but after seeing a massage therapist last night, I just can’t believe how much better my stupid foot feels today. It’s like that classic Folgers ad, except instead of replacing my old, busted foot with crappy instant coffee, they replaced it with a newer, less busted foot. Oh, and my legs feel better too. And my knees don’t make me want to cry.
Speaking of crying, I let out a few tears of ridiculous gratitude while walking the dog last night. Until I realized that I didn’t want my sweet tears of victory to turn into frozen tears of face breakage. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s cold outside. Which is why I womanned the fuck up and choked those icicles back into my tear ducts.
I don’t know how to describe it, but my foot just feels right. After months and months and months of it feeling wrong. I’ve mostly been in pain since last June. Even when I haven’t been in pain, my foot has felt profoundly wrong. It didn’t move correctly. I was always aware of it. Oh, and it was full of scar tissue.
Speaking of scar tissue, my foot is no longer crunchy to the touch. Go ahead and get that mental image out of your head. I dare you.
I should have seen a massage therapist months ago. Mea culpa. I’m not 100% better, but I’m at 75-80%, for sure. I’m going to go back in a couple of weeks and he’s going to beat the last of my scar tissue into submission. There was just too much of it to work through in one session. He also told me where I’m the stiffest and which muscles I need to be stretching better. And he gave me some brand new stretches to do.
One of my main problems is, apparently, that I am hyper-flexible (anyone who has seen me at a yoga class is laughing hysterically right about now). Where most people’s knees, ankles and feet would be saying, “I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that,” mine go “Wheeeee! Let’s turn this up to 11!!!” And then my kneecap wraps itself around to the back of my leg and I hurt myself. I’m not entirely sure what this means in terms of injury prevention, but I’m going to go ahead and assume that I should be more vigilant about not putting my body into awkward positions.
I’m not going to put my sneakers on tonight and head out for a run, but I’m starting to feel vaguely optimistic about my ability to run in the future. At least, I’m pretty sure I’m feeling optimistic. It’s been a while. I’m not entirely sure what it feels like.
I get what you’re saying about flexible feet. I am the least flexible person when it comes to anything except my feet, apparently they just bend and roll all over the place. The podiatrist did everything but roll it up in a ball like there were no bones.
I don’t know if they told you this already or not, but tight hamstrings can cause a lot of problems. I have really tight hamstrings — that whole inflexible thing — and not enough muscle in my quads. This means my leg is all kinds of wobbly.
Oh, and I’m glad you’re feeling better!
He told me that my legs are tapered instead of straight, because my hips are all kinds of effed up. My upper legs point in and then my lower legs point out. My legs basically look like this: > < (not quite as extreme, but you get the idea) I knew my knees were messed up because of the whole hips out of alignment thing, I didn't realize just how out of whack my legs are. In looking at my legs, it seems so obvious now. I think that the answer is careful strength training, lots of stretching and regular massage. He didn't suggest regular massage, but I'm thinking it's not a bad idea.
Thanks! 🙂
Yay for reduction of pain!!
Totally get the “Wheeee” thing about stretching. Not sure if I’m hyper-flexible or just really good at stretching. My BF can barely touch his knees! There’s a Bikram yoga pose where, while standing with feet about 3-4 ft apart, you lean forward and stretch all the way down until your forehead touches the floor in between your legs. Best stretch and I feel so accomplished in yoga that I’m one of the few that can do it!
I’m good at touching my toes! I don’t know if I’ve done that pose, but now I want to try it. The funny thing is, when I do the stretch where you sit on the ground with your legs out straight in front of you, I can just barely grab my feet. And I look AWFUL doing it. :p
It’s good to know that I need to be careful about bending myself in ways that will result in me hurting myself. But it’s also nice to think that someday I could be a yoga superstar!