I chose to go to qualified specialists, instead of trying 'advice off people on the internet', and while I still think it was the right decision, it's a wee bit frustrating that I'm 3½ months in and my left foot pain is the same as when I first got it. Only now with added compensation pain on my right lower quad/knee, and less money in my bank account. I continue to rest, and stretch, and so on - but really, I think I'm just waiting now. Apart from some decent sessions with the osteopath, who greatly helped my tight calves (which is a huge take-away for me when I'm back running again, so I'm very pleased) but not much more than that, I also recently went to see a specialist in biomechanics, since the foot and quad issues seem related. It didn't go quite as expected, and he ignored the injuries and focussed more on the holistic picture of the weight I need to lose. Had I been going there looking for a weightloss coach, I could have got a lot from the guy I think, but I wasn't... so I didn't. (Plus, out of stubborn principle I'm not working with anyone who calls caffeine a 'toxin', haha.) So my next step is just to return to the massage/foam rolling approach, and just wait this out. (That's not a question, that's my decision.)
It's infuriating, but I'm definitely not the first runner in the world to get injured, and things could be a hell of a lot worse, so really I just need to shift my thinking a little, and deal with things to my best ability. The headcold I've had since the New Year is finally gone now, so I'll get back to doing some swimming, and I'll just try to use this time to get my head in the right place, and get as much proper rest as I possibly can.
The annoying thing with a foot injury, of course, is you can't completely rest it - even just walking to the car to drive the 1 mile to the office each morning is time on my feet, not to mention the various foot flexing and fascia-stretching that comes with clutch control haha. I had been decreasing how much movement I do, but still subconsciously keeping the habit of wearing my pedometer every day, and the chart below (click to enlarge) shows that since getting injured in October, my daily average number of steps have dropped off significantly, and so far in January 2016 the daily average has been under 2500 steps - or, for me, a little over 1 mile. Just 1 mile of movement a day. Boggles the mind!!! But it's not making any difference to how my foot feels, so I'll start increasing it gently and carefully again - maybe aim for around 6000 steps a day, nothing too major, but enough to keep my legs moving and my mind active. It's way beyond time to stop feeling sorry for myself, accept where I am, and make the most of it. x
Sorry the experts haven't been able to help get rid your pain, although it's always good know a decent osteopath and I'm glad that the treatment you got was good. Like, all of your well meaning friends I keep trying to come up with something that will help you - sorry lol!! Guess, we all want to see you running again. These things are so personal though, and only you know what works and it probably is rest rest rest.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that you are still injured. Been there way too many times - including with PF. Incredibly frustrating to not yet see light at the end of the tunnel. But hey, even with a chronic injury you were referring to yourself as a runner, that ain't no bad thing ;-)
ReplyDeleteWeird experience with the biomechanics specialist concentrating on other things that biomechanics... I do agree a bit with some of what he said though. From a mechanical point of view being lighter would lessen the load on the injured tissue. At the start of the injury it may have been the combination of increasing weight and increasing training volume + intensity that over-stressed your body.
Caffeine shouldn't have a big effect on the healing process, at least I haven't yet come across studies that suggest that it's problem. However, in Steve Magness (coach who was the whistle blower at Nike Oregon project) book and on his blog he writes about Caffeine as a stimulant that improves athletics performance but reduces adaptive response to training so you shouldn't use caffeine to support a workout - as the whole point of training is that adaptive response. I don't recall if there is studies back this up, but suspect there is as Steve is very well read on the topic of exercise physiology. I mention this because it's hint that perhaps Caffeine may effect reduce our immune response.
Another aspect to Caffeine that I've come across is if you need a Caffeine to get going in the morning, or keep going through the day that it suggests that your body isn't working optimally and has become dependent on the stimulant to keep your going. The idea is is that you are getting enough sleep and are healthy then taking stimulants won't be required. Viewed like this needing Caffeine is like a canary in a cold mine - it tells us that something else isn't quite right.
All that being said, as a tea drinker you are less likely to be over reliant to Caffeine. I include it all here out of general interest ;-)
For healing injuries the bottom line is supporting and stimulating the immune system in a way that fixes the problem. So far your injury hasn't progressed well which suggests you haven't yet found the right combination or stimulus and recovery. Eating lots of nutritious low inflammatory foods, getting enough sleep and relaxation will help with the recovery.
On the stimulus front I suspect the stretching won't be doing much - as far as I'm aware you aren't about to audition as a professional dancer so lots of flexibility is probably not that useful. Foam roller can help release muscle fascia, knotted muscles and help stimulate blood flow and immune response so for me is more likely to help than stretching. However, there is limit to what it can do - once you've got your muscles nice and relaxed and you still have problems then problem isn't there.
Re-introducing walking may well be good idea. As long as the pain isn't increasing with the re-introduction of more walking then you are likely to be doing yourself some good. Several injuries I've had have just got bedded in and not responded to rest, and when I finally got fed up and got back and re-introduced running the injury starts to improve - almost like the immune system gets lazy when I'm not exercising and doesn't bother completing repair work, but when doing regular exercise my immune system switches back on and gets on with the job of fixing things.
The only thing to watch is that you are in good place stress/eating/sleeping wise when you start adding back in more exercise - increasing stimulus needs to be balanced by an ability to recover.
Don't loose heart. Most of us have all had injuries that took what seemed forever to fix, things do fix themselves, you do get back.