Remember this not-so-sneaky pose? (I would hope so, it’s from yesterday’s post.) Well, you’re looking at the last pic of me pain-free, Wednesday morning. Ever since Wednesday evening I’ve been hobbling around my house and pretending I can ignore the fact that only one of my lower limbs is working properly. Yes, like many bad things in fitness that I have avoided only through sheer luck and the occasional sacrifice at the altar of pitted-out shirts, rather than taking intelligent steps to prevent them – the inevitable has occurred. I have an injury.
It started out as a dull achy pain, right in the bottom of my heel. It was such a weird pain that I kept checking to see if I had accidentally impaled my foot on a Lego, K’Nex or other lethal object left willy nilly on the floor. (Side note: If you hear of someone being assassinated by small, expensive plastic toys, you can be it was my kids. At this very moment, I just told my son to go get dressed for school and the way he’s doing that – as evidenced by the racket from the basement – is by shooting his sleeping brothers with his Nerf gun. Ah trusty time out, I feel you coming for a visit.) ANYHOW. I did my workout Thursday morning and was fine so I figured it was just a fluke. But yesterday afternoon it was back and had spread to the outside of my foot. By evening it was up my Achilles heel and so painful I couldn’t put weight on it. Last night, the throbbing ache actually woke me up.
Sigh.
After paging Dr. Google, I have decided it’s most likely plantar fasciitis, otherwise known as the bane of runners everywhere and the most common cause of heel pain. Nearly everyone I know has had a bout with it at some point. But other than my stress fractures in my shins five years ago brought on by my insane over-exercising, I have been injury free. No sciatica. No IT band problems. I’ve never – knock on wood – thrown out my back or neck or rotator cuff. But like my old trainer Steve had predicte d (man, I still miss him !) “You don’t have any injuries?! Because [with your imbalances and form problems] you should!” And now I do. Which makes me extra whiny.
I probably don’t have to tell most of you this but the pain is awful. Not on par with childbirth but definitely worthy of five owowowowow’s. And me being me, I’m ticked that it’s messing up my carefully planned (read: precariously balanced on a highwire with no safety net) life. I can’t do my workout today. (Upside: Look at me being all reasonable about resting!) I can’t run my errands. I can’t… stop whining.
So what exactly is it and how did it happen? According to WebMD, it’s simply when the fascia (connective tissue) that runs along the bottom of your foot gets inflamed. The how is harder to figure out. It can come from upping your running miles too quickly, running too often on hard surfaces, wearing worn out/unsupportive shoes (or wearing high heels too much), or having a form/muscular imbalance. I can definitively say it’s not the first three as I haven’t run more than 5 miles at a time in over a year and I very rarely run outside (although I did last Saturday – so maybe that one time did it? Because I’m not used to it?). I’m careful to take good care of my kicks and replace them when worn out. As for the high heels, you know I love me my stilettos!
Shhh – don’t tell the boys what they got mommy… someone should be surprised Christmas morning!
But while I love them I wear them a few hours a week at most. Anytime I’m home, I’m in sock’ed feet. All of which leaves bad luck or form problems. Crap.
The bigger question, however, is what to do about it. Common therapies include lots of calf and Achilles stretches (check and check), arch supports, specialized braces, icing it, exercises like towel pick-ups with your toes (fun!), and wearing supportive athletic shoes all the time, even at home. Like an angel from above, sent to save me from myself, I got these adorable neon Spine RPM training shoes in the mail from Under Armour.
Allison had her own new neon sneakers on so of course we had to take a pic!
This is the yoga Show Off Your Shoes pose. You knew it had one right? Yoga has a pose for everything!
They’re super supportive so now I’m wearing them pretty much 24/7. At least if I’m going to hobble, I can hobble in comfortable style!
Want to win a pair yourself? Under Armour wants to hook up one of you up (and who wouldn’t want to have matching shoes with me?!). Simply leave a comment below telling me which sweet color you’d choose to enter! And – if you’d be so kind – please leave me ANY advice you have about plantar fasciitis and how to deal with it! Just commiserating is good too!
Rules and Disclaimer: Contest is open for one week, ending at midnight on Dec. 21, 2012. I was given one pair of shoes from Under Armour to review. I was not paid for the post.
Remember this not-so-sneaky pose? (I would hope so, it’s from yesterday’s post.) Well, you’re looking at the last pic of me pain-free, Wednesday morning. Ever since Wednesday evening I’ve been hobbling around my house and pretending I can ignore the fact that only one of my lower limbs is working properly. Yes, like many bad things in fitness that I have avoided only through sheer luck and the occasional sacrifice at the altar of pitted-out shirts, rather than taking intelligent steps to prevent them – the inevitable has occurred. I have an injury.
It started out as a dull achy pain, right in the bottom of my heel. It was such a weird pain that I kept checking to see if I had accidentally impaled my foot on a Lego, K’Nex or other lethal object left willy nilly on the floor. (Side note: If you hear of someone being assassinated by small, expensive plastic toys, you can be it was my kids. At this very moment, I just told my son to go get dressed for school and the way he’s doing that – as evidenced by the racket from the basement – is by shooting his sleeping brothers with his Nerf gun. Ah trusty time out, I feel you coming for a visit.) ANYHOW. I did my workout Thursday morning and was fine so I figured it was just a fluke. But yesterday afternoon it was back and had spread to the outside of my foot. By evening it was up my Achilles heel and so painful I couldn’t put weight on it. Last night, the throbbing ache actually woke me up.
Sigh.
After paging Dr. Google, I have decided it’s most likely plantar fasciitis, otherwise known as the bane of runners everywhere and the most common cause of heel pain. Nearly everyone I know has had a bout with it at some point. But other than my stress fractures in my shins five years ago brought on by my insane over-exercising, I have been injury free. No sciatica. No IT band problems. I’ve never – knock on wood – thrown out my back or neck or rotator cuff. But like my old trainer Steve had predicte d (man, I still miss him !) “You don’t have any injuries?! Because [with your imbalances and form problems] you should!” And now I do. Which makes me extra whiny.
I probably don’t have to tell most of you this but the pain is awful. Not on par with childbirth but definitely worthy of five owowowowow’s. And me being me, I’m ticked that it’s messing up my carefully planned (read: precariously balanced on a highwire with no safety net) life. I can’t do my workout today. (Upside: Look at me being all reasonable about resting!) I can’t run my errands. I can’t… stop whining.
So what exactly is it and how did it happen? According to WebMD, it’s simply when the fascia (connective tissue) that runs along the bottom of your foot gets inflamed. The how is harder to figure out. It can come from upping your running miles too quickly, running too often on hard surfaces, wearing worn out/unsupportive shoes (or wearing high heels too much), or having a form/muscular imbalance. I can definitively say it’s not the first three as I haven’t run more than 5 miles at a time in over a year and I very rarely run outside (although I did last Saturday – so maybe that one time did it? Because I’m not used to it?). I’m careful to take good care of my kicks and replace them when worn out. As for the high heels, you know I love me my stilettos!
But while I love them I wear them a few hours a week at most. Anytime I’m home, I’m in sock’ed feet. All of which leaves bad luck or form problems. Crap.
The bigger question, however, is what to do about it. Common therapies include lots of calf and Achilles stretches (check and check), arch supports, specialized braces, icing it, exercises like towel pick-ups with your toes (fun!), and wearing supportive athletic shoes all the time, even at home. Like an angel from above, sent to save me from myself, I got these adorable neon Spine RPM training shoes in the mail from Under Armour.
Allison had her own new neon sneakers on so of course we had to take a pic!
This is the yoga Show Off Your Shoes pose. You knew it had one right? Yoga has a pose for everything!
They’re super supportive so now I’m wearing them pretty much 24/7. At least if I’m going to hobble, I can hobble in comfortable style!
Want to win a pair yourself? Under Armour wants to hook up one of you up (and who wouldn’t want to have matching shoes with me?!). Simply leave a comment below telling me which sweet color you’d choose to enter! And – if you’d be so kind – please leave me ANY advice you have about plantar fasciitis and how to deal with it! Just commiserating is good too!
Rules and Disclaimer: Contest is open for one week, ending at midnight on Dec. 21, 2012. I was given one pair of shoes from Under Armour to review. I was not paid for the post.