Tuesday, March 8, 2011

On The Road (to recovery) Again


One of the cool things about being so wide open (like I am here) is that you occasionally connect with people that you may not have otherwise.  I had this experience this week, and I feel very fortunate.

Dr.'s Change and Murray of Blue Ridge Foot and Ankle, are two orthpaedic doctors in Charlottesville.  In addition to being extremely good at the medical side of what they do they have also embraced social media as part of their marketing plan.  They've been doing lots of fun things on-line in an effort to not only get their message out, but truly connect with the community.  If you have questions about sports injuries - any type of injury related to feet and ankles you can find information on their website at www.brfootandankle.com .  
Recently the doctors decided that blogging about the experience of helping someone through their exercise injuries and/or ailments would be a great story. Ironically, about this same time I wrote a blog post about my shin splint issues  and how they have thrwarted my efforts to do a longer race (either mentally or physically) in the past.  We were a perfect match!
  
I met with Dr.'s Chang and Murray for the first time on Wednesday, March 2.  I have to admit I was super excited about this because though I've known I needed professional help I'd never gotten around to making the appointment (typical mom-thing). As I considered this appointment "work" it was something I wouldn't put off - and I knew having these two doctors on my side was going to help me get to where I wanted to be.


You can read Dr. Chang's assessment of our first appointment at the Blue Ridge Foot and Ankle Blog. Essentially I presented with a classic case of shin splints with pain that appears after I've been exercising about 30 minutes, disappears when I rest, and reappears the following day. I also have a cavus foot (who knew?) that doesn't absorb shock well making me a prime candidate for shin splints.  They prescribed R.I.C.E (rest, ice, compression, elevation), stretching, ibuprofen for immediate pain relief and then taught me out to tape my feet for exercise,  I admit I didn't totally understand how taping my feet was going to help, but figured these are two doctors who really know what they're doing so I went with it.  The recommendation was to tape not only for my run days, but also when I am at Clay.  


The taping is a temporary thing to assess if orthotics would be helpful for me. I'm scheduled to go back in two weeks for a gait assessment and possibly orthotic fitting. The doctors think we will be able to conquer this with proper treatment and orthotics.  I'm very hopeful, too!

8 comments:

  1. Great post! I'm looking for a new podiatrist and going to check them out since you had such a great experience. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hope this works out for you and that you'll be planning a marathon before too long. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Right now I'm just trying to get through 8K on the day of the Charlottesville Marathon. THEN I'll start really training, though the more I think about a marathon the more I think "that's totally CRAZY!". Half Marathon sounds awesome and doable at the same time :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm just glad your feet were clean. I'm proud of the whole marathon thing you've got going on there. But I just really need you to be able to run around a few bases then you can sit down for a couple of minutes. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hope their treatment plan gets you all fixed up, Amy! We can't have you hobbling around. My mom uses that clinic & speaks highly of her doctor. Good choice!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good for you taking such good care of yourself. Now you just need a pedicure to really take care of yourself right!
    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I haven't spent time reading the rest of your posts to see what you tried to fix the shin splints, but I had the same problem and walking with a pair of VIBRAM fivefingers actually fixed them. It took a little while to get used to them and a bout of plantar fasciatis later, I am wearing them 2 times a week. The P.F. was from tight calves and cycling with absolutely no stretching : (
    Lesson learned!
    But try em out.

    Just found your blog tonight, enjoying it very much so far! Also just completed a cleanse, did one by Dr. JUNGER. Worked out well and my g.f. dropped 5 lbs almost in 7 days from eliminating certain foods from the diet (gluten/sugar/agave/dairy/caffeine).

    C YA

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ryry - I apologize - somehow I missed your comment back in SEptember! I have wanted to try the VIBRAM fivefingers for a long time but have never gotten around to it. I think I will look into it this winter.

    And I've definitely found that cleaning up my diet has been key. I've fallen off the wagon quite a few times, but I always know how to get myself back on track and that I will feel much, much better once I do!

    Thanks for reading!

    Amy

    ReplyDelete