"There's only one hard and fast rule in running: sometimes you have to run one hard and fast."








Saturday, June 2, 2012

Prescription: Ballet?!

Common sense won out and I went to the doctor after not being able to run at all for some time.

"What's the problem this time?"
"The bursitis is getting worse."
"That's a diagnosis, not a problem. [smart-ass] Your feet hurt when you run?"
"I can't run. They just hurt."
"Have you been running more or faster than usual? Unusual surfaces? New shoes?"
"I haven't run much and only slowly. Nothing else is different."
"What else have you been doing?"
"Nothing... home repair, mostly."
"Let's take a look."

"Ow. Ow. OW! Ow. OWWW. OW!! Stop. Ow. Ow. [etc. etc.]"

"It's not what you thought. The bursae are inflamed, of course, as are the achilles and calcaneus tendons, but they're not tender to the touch. You have minor strains in the outer heads of both gastrocnemius muscles, but the major problem is peroneal. You have tendinitis in both legs in the:

Achilles
Peroneus longus
Peroneus brevis
Peroneus tertius
Extensor digitorum longus
Flexor hallucis longus"

[That's not tendinitis, that's twelvedinitis.]

[We reviewed the stretching and strengthening rehabilitation exercises I've been doing.]

"Those are ballet injuries. I'd suggest you find out how ballet dancers warm-up and do those exercises. Or, of course, you could have the surgery you keep putting off."

So... doctor says I should spend more time with skinny young girls. That's what I'm taking from it, anyway. En pointe!

4 comments:

sea legs girl said...

Let me us know what you learn about how ballet dancers recover. That is quite interesting. So are you running on your toes to avoid all the painful spots? (that's what I'm gathering)

All of this tendonitis makes me also wonder about how your diet and overall health is! Another thing to keep in mind is long-distance runners have very strong tendons compared to spinters or non-athletes, so maybe focussing on more slow runs for a while will help. Maybe your love of hills and fast running is slowing your recovery -though it doesn't sound like you're doing much running at all :(.

I'll just stop now.

One other thing- back to your posts about running shoes: I would not switch to minimalist shoes now with your calf and foot issues. That is asking for trouble. Never thought I'd recommend this, but the concept of the Hoka shoes makes a lot of sense for you. Lots of padding but also no big step-up in the heal. Maybe they'd give you a free pair if you reviewed them on your blog :).

SteveQ said...

Why is it that no one gets that I'm not looking for minimalist shoes, just shoes that don't have a heel counter that make my feet hurt? Looks like I'm going with Asics racing flats with inserts for extra padding.

Colin said...

Hope the Asics work for you! They don't have much padding, but I've run a few marathons and many shorter road races in them with no issues. Hopefully the heel is comfortable enough, and the inserts protect the soles of your feet. Don't have them handy now, but I think the stock inserts may be glued in place?

Anonymous said...

I just hope you find the girls!