Thursday, March 26, 2009

Footscicle

I injured my foot.

Probably from running.

All my research with Dr. Google seems to indicate Plantar Fasciitis - an injury to the tissue along the arch of the foot.

Sharon also believes it to be consistent with plantar fasciitis. Fun.

She had told me to ice it. For me, this meant wrapping a bag of frozen corn in a towel and standing on it while applying my makeup in the morning. This morning, when Sharon iced it for me, I found that she had other ideas.

She took a gel ice pack - which is about 20° colder than a bag of corn, and made me put my foot directly on it, no towel, no sock, just foot on ice.

For 20 minutes.

TWENTY. MINUTES.

It hurt like HELL!!!!

Twenty minutes (and 5 sets of upper-body strength excersizes) later, she let me move my foot. By then it was totally numb and very cold. It was a footscicle.

Fun.

I'm seeing a podiatrist today. Hopefully he'll just give me a pill or a shot or something...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to your description of Dr. Dreamy -- the podiatrist and of your follow-up visits.

Terri

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear you're in pain, hun. If it does turn out you have P.F., I hope you will have only a mild case of it. Let us know what the doc says. --Been there

Angela said...

I had this as well and read about a treatment and tried it and it worked GREAT! Saved my softball season that summer! Here's the scoop: When you walk on your foot after a long period of rest (such as sleeping through the night), you're ripping away the scar tissue that has built overnight. That's why it can hurt so much.

So in the morning, before you get out of bed, do 5-10 minutes of movement exercises with your foot -- hang out foot off the end of the bed and move your ankle around, flex your foot -- just move it as much as you comfortably can, THEN get up and walk on it.

It made a huge difference right away. A few weeks of sticking to that and I never had a problem with it again.

Good luck!

Angela

Anonymous said...

WOW!!! Angela, I have had a problem with mine for 1 1/2years...seeing the podiatrist that long.

They gave me the boot to wear at night. It helped after a while, but when I rolled over at night it hurt my back. Think..bulk on your foot/leg and rolling from one side to another.

Then he recommended the Strasburg sock. That helped, but then I tightened it to tight and over-extended the Achilles’ tendon and ended up limping. I have been working on the morning exercises and that does help some.

Also the best way I have found to apply ice is to use a frozen water bottle. You can wrap it in a towel til you get used to it. Then use it nekkid (mspld intentionally).

EEE, I sure hope it is a quicker recovery for you. I have had 3 shots. I'm finally having new orthotics made as a last resort. Insurance pays none of that.

The podiatrist says the next step is surgery if the orthotic doesn’t work.
Heart

EEE said...

The hot doc says it is plantar fasciitis, but a mild case that I caught early.

Luckily, I don't have to stand/walk much for work so I'm only getting orthotics for my running shoes.

Can't run/walk for exercise for another couple weeks so until then, spinning it is. *grumble grumble*

Thanks everyone for the concern - apparently it is VERY common!!!