PT Update

I am 2 weeks into at least 4 weeks of physical therapy.

My eval appointment and first week went well. No one tells you that PT hurts. Oh boy, does it hurt. But then you feel better. The near constant pain went away. Immediately. I could run across a street with no pain. No, not actual running. Just enough to make the light. That hadn't happened in a while. I got a list of stretching exercises to do on my own. I bought a hot-cold pack so that I could get some heat on my ankle. I put Superfeet inserts in my running shoes.

Second week. Eh. Not as good. I started getting pains in the beginning again. But only when I was doing nothing. Not exactly sure why, but I think I spent too much time walking around barefoot and jumping up and down a chair to put stuff away in a closet. Dumb move, self. Don't do that again. I did get run briefly on an anti-gravity treadmill. Very weird. I have lost a lot of endurance. It was good to run, though, even if it was partly assisted by a pressurized bubble.

New week, less pain. If I were writing this yesterday, it was a different story. Today is better. Ahh. I was diligent about wearing my running shoes all the time (at work, at home) and more mindful about what I do with my feet while I am sitting. My ankle is still hurting. But it's a different kind of hurt. It's achy but feels stronger, if that makes sense. I guess that's good?

Apparently, I have some mechanical problems. A problem with the structure of my right tibia (it's supposed to turn more than it does). An imbalance in my hips. The main issue is that my right foot does not stay straight when I run. I land with my toes pointing outward and then flick my toes outward when I pick up my foot. This puts a strain on that tendon on the inside of my ankle. My left foot stays straight. Huh. That makes sense. I can see this in the wear patterns on my shoes. But only on the shoes that I started wearing in April. After I moved to Washington, DC. Mad hillz yo are not good for my ankle.

My physical therapist told me I am not built to be a runner. Haha. Really? That is a stupid statement. I'm pretty sure the rest of my body is built to be a runner. Unless I was just lucky that I have made it this far ...

What I think happened is that switching to running in Rhode Island (where I was mostly running flats) to running in DC (where I was not mostly running flats) exacerbated whatever was going on. You know how you aren't supposed to change anything too abruptly in running? That includes switching from running 20-30 miles a week on flats to running 20-30 miles a week on mostly hills. Not a smart idea. You need to transition gradually. My other theory is that my ankle was gradually getting worse and I compensated by doing other other things. Runners are stubborn, so it takes a while for us to realize we are injured, something is wrong, and we need to stop running. Enter the month of June.

Where I go from here, I am still not sure. I still not cleared to run and don't know when that will happen. Maybe soon? I might get to run on a treadmill this week. Correct whatever imbalance is causing the problems, figure out how to get my right foot straighter, stretch more, and don't run on hills.

That's more difficult than it sounds.

Off the Rhode

As of last week, I have a diagnosis of posterior tibial tendonitis and some Achilles tendonitis as well.

Could be better. Could be worse, I suppose.

Where is the posterior tibial tendon? It stretches from your calf, wraps around your ankle near that bone that sticks out (which is the area where I am having the most pain), and attaches to the sole of your foot. That explains some of the plantar fasiitis-like pain on my sole. Add in the Achilles tendon and that explains the sporadic pain on the sides of my ankle and back of my heel. It all fits together.

This started to get worse when I moved to DC. One of the things that can aggravate this injury is running on hilly surfaces. Hmmm.

Yesterday, someone I just met picked me out as a runner and correctly identified my right side as the injured one. Before I said anything. I didn't realize it was that obvious.

Today, I went to my first physical therapy session. Um, ouch. But good ouch. I felt better than I have in a long time. I have at least a few weeks of PT, some exercises to do on my own, some high doses of ibuprofen for the rest of the week, Superfeet insoles, and one of those packs that you can heat up in the microwave. Yeah, I'm getting old.

I have no idea yet about a prognosis, but it seems promising. Plus I have an excuse to buy new shoes and wear my running shoes to work.