Archive for May 13th, 2008

When I got to the podiatrist, I was worried – not for the outcome of my foot, but because my first sight is a woman sitting there with acupuncture needles in her leg, then another woman with some weird machine attached to her foot, then another with a torturous-looking splint device attached to her foot.

I’m about the farthest from Eastern philosophies and ching-ching stuff as a person’s allowed to be, so I was doing secret eye-rolling when no one was looking.

My first task was to stand and walk on a pad that reads pressure and heat, so when the doc analyzed me, he noticed I distribute uneven weight between legs, my poor right leg does a lot more work than the left, and that the way my foot rolls is kinda wacky. Hmmm, makes sense since any twinges I get are always on the right leg.

Additionally, it appears I’m paying karma points for making fun of those Lincoln Center ballerinas when I was in acting school, with their constant fifth-position waddle…turns out that’s kind of how I walk these days. Serves me right.

Anyway, he told me my peroneal tendon was getting out of it’s groove. My reply was “When can I run??” When he responded, “Today, after I wrap your foot up”, I didn’t care if they hung an effigy of Buddha on my butt and lit my ass on fire, I’d do whatever he said.

So I got the full treatment starting with electro-stim where they put paddles on my ankle and sent an electric current through my foot (this increases blood flow). Then I went into another room where a nice woman showed me exercises to strengthen my ankles. Next, I got acupuncture and lastly, the doc wrapped my feet up and told me to come back on Thursday for re-wrapping and whatever else they come up with. Fine by me! My insurance is paying for it after all (or at least the first few visits), so I’ll be your human voodoo doll any day.

My lesson for next time is to get to a doctor sooner rather than later – I could have saved weeks of worry and several days of depression. Enough boo-hooing though, time to don some shorts, a top and take my feet where they’ve been itching to go for a week; outside into the big world. Later, kids!! (and smooches for the well-wishes during this most boring whining time of mine, you guys/gals are the best!)

Apres Run Addition: Well, that hurt like a son of a bitch…for the first half anyway. I ran a blistering 10min pace for 3.2 miles. Was thinking the doc was a quack for a while (not that it made me turn around and go home), but the ankle loosened up the longer I was out there. Saw my construction worker boyfriend who’s been cheering me about Broad St. for the last 3 months, we exchanged race results and I was really happy for him, he was expecting 10min miles and ran 1:32. Good times, good times…