Not quite right
My left foot.
It hurts. Been hurting for over a year. Mostly at the start of the day. It’s often so bad that I limp.
I assumed the pain would simply go away. That perhaps I bruised it jumping down off the rope at circus class and it needed time. Then, I thought it was simply tired out tootsies from being on my feet all day teaching at Sock Summit. Around New Year’s I tried to run it off. Push past the pain.
I tried to treat it with ice, rest, massage, acupuncture, ART. I could get the joints in my foot to pop at times when rubbing them. When I started rolling it in a golfball, I was struck by a recovered memory. There was that one day I had accidentally kicked the metal leg of the couch. Really hard. Barefoot, of course. Was that it?
The hurt is difficult to describe. My first steps in the morning burned on the sole. Like a fascial irritation but centered on the ball of my foot toward the outside (unlike plantar fascitis). But there was also a dull ache on the top of the foot, but deep. The bones felt congested, as if there wasn’t enough room for all of them. I wanted to break open the foot and spread everything out.
As I haven’t seen any major progress as months went on, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I may simply have to live with this. Another ache and pain as a result of getting older. My running and athletic days were over. C’est la vie, non?
Something just wasn’t right in my foot. If it had been broken, I assumed I would have been in excruciating agony. Instead, I couldn’t point my toe as well and never felt comfortable in any shoe nor barefoot.
Lately, my only solace has been five-toed socks and toe stretchers. They bring circulation and sensation to the area. I may have ordered some freaky looking slip-ons that should come later this week (they now come in wool!).
Looking at my foot today (being home from work), I noticed how off my “ring finger” toe is. Like a mis-mounted stitch, it has a different orientation than all the other four. One of these things is not like the others… Why did it take me a year to see this?
No wonder things feel out of place. No, I haven’t gone to see a doctor or had it x-ray’ed. I know what good used to feel like. And I miss it. I want it to get better. My foot is sending a message that hurt is not sustainable. I need to get aligned.
(this is also a metaphor.)
August 10th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
X-rays, ASAP. Knowing it’s out of whack isn’t enough if you don’t know how and why.
August 11th, 2010 at 5:39 am
I want to know how those wonderfully freaky Vibram Five Fingers work for you. I have routinely experienced pain in both feet for years. X-rays, podiatrist, chiropractic, etc. tell me that the bunions “aren’t that bad”. Orthotics helped and yoga taught me to “stand on all four corners” of my feet – a minor revelation, in terms of using them, but no cure. It’s tough to watch my feet further deform but surgery, I’m told (and I feel), is the option to be postponed until I absolutely can’t abide the pain any longer. I’m not there yet – not by a long shot. So, for now, options like the Five Fingers are very attractive. Do tell.
August 11th, 2010 at 7:17 am
Broken bones don’t necessarily hurt as much as you might think. I once broke my nose (rather, an 8-year-old girl broke it for me), and I didn’t realize it was broken for a month and a half. Go get x-rays.
August 13th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Chikohn, we have the same weird orientation of ring toe! I call mine the hunchback. @Celia- maybe it’s different problems, but i had a lifetime of bunions, no arches, foot pain- in my 20s i had foot reconstruction (arch build, bunionectomy) on each foot, one at a time. It was a loooong process, but the best thing I could have ever done. EVER. Pain GONE…and it’s 11 years later!