Wednesday, August 15

PF strikes again

I've been avoiding admitting this out loud, but the poking pain in my right foot refuses to be silenced any longer.

It looks like I am the latest victim of the evil PF monster.

This is new to me.

Years ago I had IT band issues, and figured out how to beat those. Last summer I strained my calf in a jellyfish sting incident, and I rested and iced my way to recovery. I've had more than my fair share of blisters, and I've lost toenails. But plantar fasciitis has never been in my personal injury vocabulary... until now.

At this point it's not debilitating, just annoying. But I'm starting to notice aches in my hip and calf, which are telltale signs that my sore foot is mucking up my stride.

Podiatry Today notes that:
"Treating plantar fasciitis is challenging for any patient but it is much more difficult in the running population due mainly to the runner not wanting to take any time off from running."
Go figure.

But, I'd rather nip this in the bud before it gets worse, so...

... as much as it pains me to type these words: I'm going to cut back on running for the next couple of weeks, ice my instep, and massage the sore spot with a tennis ball.
Meet Tennie, my new training partner

Any other recommendations would be warmly welcomed!

(In the meantime, I guess it's a good thing I've got the New 2 U Cross Training Challenge to keep me distracted.)

Have you ever dealt with plantar fasciitis or similar injury?
What are your recovery secrets?

7 comments:

  1. oh yuck! i hope you get over it soon! I had that once and used my elliptical for about a month, hated it, but it really helped.

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  2. nooooooooooooooooo! Unfortunately I am all too familiar with this problem - my tips: roll foot on an iced water bottle every night...roll foot on a golf ball (this is what my podiatrist suggested, not a tennis ball), buy one of those sock things at the running store and wear it to sleep in....run in the pool to maintain fitness. Hopefully you've caught it early and will have a quick recovery!

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  3. I'm going to sound like a broken record, 'cause I tell everyone this, but I've been through PF in a big way. Was prescribed orthotics and then got it in the other foot. Ditched the orthotics, started walking around barefoot and only wearing shoes when necessary. Also only run in minimalist shoes. Haven't seen the likes of PF for a long, long time. Seriously, try it. You have nothing to lose!

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    1. I'm already on the barefoot bus! :) I work from home 90% of the time these days and only put shoes on when I leave the house. But I haven't really tried minimalist running shoes... I'll give those a shot once my foot is better!

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  4. oh NO! Hope you have a quick recovery- good move taking care of it rather than let it get worse, though. :) x

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  5. Noooooooooooooooooooo! You are doing the right things - freeze a water bottle & roll as much as you can, massage with the tennis ball (or even better, get a "rubz," massage your arch before you get out of bed in the morning & put pressure on it & be sure to warm it up good, stretch your calves...more. I will send you an email with the list of crap I've been doing. My PF has been around since March 19 but I REALLY aggravated mine. Hopefully you can nip yours in the bud!

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Penny for your thoughts?