Going Minimal

Going Minimal

I am such a total blog loser now.  I barely know how to publish a post everything looks so different.  But here I am.  I wanted to get on and document my foot injury (I know, sounds really exciting) because tomorrow I am going in to talk to a team at Nike and they want to hear my story.  So I wanted to get it out on "paper" to make sure I don't miss any major pieces to the story.   So here goes...

A Little History

I have always been involved in sports.  From the time I was very young I have been in soccer, softball, basketball, track, and most of these I played throughout highschool.  I had typical sports injuries growing up, but nothing out of the ordinary.  I continued playing sports for fun in college and started to pick up running as a sport.  After I had my first baby I started running more consistantly.  It was a great way to keep in shape without a lot of preperation or coordinating.  And I have run ever since then, usually 3-4 times per week.  I have run through all 4 of my pregnancies until about my sixth month and then I usually walk until delivery.  And then I gradually pick back up that year after having the baby.  I have grown to love running.  I love the energy it gives me, the health, and the great running friends I have had throughout the years.  I am always trying to convert people to running so I can get to know them because you have about an hour to converse!

The Pain Begins...

In October of 2011 I ran my first half-marathon.  It was a  challenge.  Lots of training, lots of long runs, and the race itself was very hilly.  My time was 2:05.  I felt really good about the whole experience.  I continued running after the half and was highly considering doing a marathon or another half.  But about 2-3weeks after the half I started feeling a dull pain in the ball of my foot.  I ignored it for a few weeks because the pain seemed to come and go.

A few weeks passed and I decided to be on the safe side and go and have it checked out by my primary care doc.  He diagnosed me with Morton's neuroma and said he has the same thing.  He sent me in for X-rays and said, I am positive nothing is going to turn up (to rule out stress fracture) because he was confident it was a neuroma.  He explained that it was a thickening of a nerve in one of my toes that led to pain and discomfort, but that I could still run.  That was all I needed to hear.  I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing any further damage.

So I continued with my running group and in December signed up with my friends for the Hippie Chick half that would be in May.

Pain Worsens

December, Jan, Feb, March.  Normal runs and begin our training for Hippie Chick.  Foot is bothering me more and more.  We finish a simple six mile run and I limped into my house and my foot swelled up and I couldnt walk normal the rest of the weekend.

I was depressed.  I laid on the couch and said, "it's over."  Steve rolled his eyes and said, C'mon its not over.  I just didn't see how I was going to heal.

The First Podiatrist

Back to my primary care doc who referred me to a podiatrist.  I got in that week.  He did more x-rays, looked at my foot in rest and in standing and said, "you have a plantar plate injury".  Ok, what's that?  "It's an overstretched ligament in your foot and it is making your toe go out of alignment." . He said these ligaments do not repair themselves...I said...what????  So it's over?  I'm done?  He said I might be able to run if we tape the toe into alignment, give you orthotics, and new shoes (after he saw my shoes, which he said are great shoes, just need a new pair-ascics kayanos).  So I was hoping for the best and trying not to be depressed (and that rhymes).  Even though I wore the tape for about 2 hours  and it made my foot pretty sore, I should be able to run 7 miles, right?  Wrong.  I woke up that morning to go for a run with the girls and I didn't even know if I was going to be able to make it down the street.  I went for a bike ride instead and thought, I have got to come up with something on my own here.  So I called my brother who had had a stress fracture from running and in the last year had converted to Vibrams and done a lot of research on the topic.  I used to think he was just being funny with his Vibrams but after talking to him I was ready to make the change.  We made a treatment plan for me.  I would put myself in a boot for a couple of weeks to let the foot heal and then I would slowly convert over to Vibrams.

My Own Treatment Plan

A couple days of wearing the boot and I was not sure I was going to make it the two weeks.  A friend who had similar foot problems was telling me about a doctor she had come across online about a year earlier and always wanted to try.  She sent me the link and I looked at his website.  Once I saw he favored minimal footwear and read his philosophies I was sold.  I booked an appointment that night...even though the earliest appointment I could get was end of April, and we were in the beginning of March.  A couple days later I recieved a phone call and got in on a cancellation appointment.

Dr. Ray McClanahan

Dr. McClanahan informed me that my foot problem was from the shoes I wear.  He put my running shoe on a table beside him and explained how the heal of the shoe is high, the plantar plate exposed, and the toes elevated.  The fat pad that protects the bottom of my foot has now shifted distally and is not protecting my metatarsal heads anymore which is causing the pain.  He said he did not feel I had a tear yet and diagnosed me with capsilitis.  He showed me the tendons in my feet and how the pull my toes up and they should be down.  He explained how we are all born with the perfect feet and if you look at a pair of baby shoes they are widest in the toes.  Then as we hit walking shoes the toes taper in, the heel elevates, arch support (which when you put support under an arch in nature it breaks) and the toes spring in shoes which causes all kinds of foot ailments.  He said that in other countries that go barefoot or wear sandals do not have the foot problems that Americans do and that is because of what we are putting on our feet.

The Treatment

The treatment was to get my foot as much as possible back to normal alignment.  We needed to get my toes spaced out, my fat pad migrated back to protect the metatarsal heads.  He gave me toe spacers-which were to be increased incrementally, metatarsal pads, and wear shoes that are flat and flexible to have my foot do what it was created to do. 

This could not be done in an instant.  I could not go run 7 miles and expect results.  It was kind of like the couch to 5K.  I had to start slow.  If I did not I could risk big injury because my Achilles had shortened, my feet were weak, misshaped from years of terrible shoes.

Going Minimal

I was nervous, but I was excited.  Nervous because I had worn stability running shoes for 10+ years and I wasn't sure how to change my mindset.  I had researched the "best" running shoes yearly and always going with the top recomendations from runners world.  I had watched videos, run on treadmills at running stores, all these people told me the same type of shoes.  Were they wrong all this time???  But I was excited.  Excited because it made sense and I could avoid surgery and taping and orthotics.

That's It

So I converted over.  It was slow.  Sometimes painful in the achilles.  But I listened to my body, I transferred slowly and I now run my regular running routine in NB minimus, oh and I am 4 months pregnant.  My knee pain is gone too.

I have made over a dozen referrals to Dr Ray and 3 of my friends now see him. 

I was so thrilled to be running with my girls again that I took a pic...

That's it.