sigh

[alonewiththemoon]

In addition to the plantar fasciitis, I'm pretty sure I've developed sesamoiditis, inflamation of the tendons around the sesamoid bones at the ball of the foot. Same foot, of course. Most of the contributing factors apply to me, except for the bad shoes part, and I've had this dull ache in the ball of my foot for about ten days now. I'm pretty sure what brought it on was working on an intense choo-choo shimmy in the finale of the drum solo I did last week. One of the sites I looked at mentioned "repeated microtrauma" as a contributing factor, and that would be a choo-choo shimmy all right. I don't think I broke a sesamoid, but I guess if the pain doesn't go away in a while I'd better see a doctor. In the meanwhile, it's ibuprufin and ice for me, and I guess I'll get some kind of foot pad to go alongside my arch supports. Anybody else have any experience with this?

I would really like to be able to trade my foot in for a new one. Where's my cyber implants, baby?

Comments

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Huh, thanks for that factoid, maybe that's what's up with the ball of my left foot. I thought it might be an incipient bunion, but by most risk factors I'm really not a candidate for one.

I really need to come up with some sort of bellydancing footwear that can help with both of these problems, then. I mean, it's all well and good to tape for class and practice, but that won't look so hot performing!

How do you do your "choo-choo" then? Because the way I learned to do that (from peregrinekt is much gentler than my teacher's "scoot" version that has you really push off the ball of the foot. Well, that probably changes if you're travelling with it, though. Hmm.

[alonewiththemoon]

For me, a choo-choo shimmy is a fast hard shimmy done up on the balls of the feet--I think some people might also call that a piston shimmy since your feet are going very fast up and down like pistons. I was also doing it with a twist in the hips. It is definitely rough on the body but creates a great reverberation effect, and when you travel with it, it's like the music is just sweeping you up and away.

I won't be doing it again for a while though...

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Ah, that one. Oh yeah, I can see that one causing problems. Now that i think about it, my teacher calls that one "shoo-shoo." Definitely different than what I was thinking of as "choo-choo." Yeah, that will definitely play havoc with the feet. Hmm, yeah, I do a bit of that to Scuttle Buttin'. I should probably think about cushioning my feet while I practice the heckoutof that one for the next couple of weeks.

[silentq.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've had two periods of pain in my right foot It took months to calm down, even with being on crutches for a month the first time (they thought it was cracked). :/ Staying off it as much as possible is the best cure, unfortunately.
If you want to get fitted for a custom orthotic, Dr. Alper on Oak Ave in Belmont uses a laser fitting system that's really fast and a lot cheaper than the plaster cast one that I had done at Mt. Auburn (110 vs 190, takes a few days rather than weeks). The resulting insert is pretty thin, too, I'm wearing them in flats right now and they're not popping me out of the shoes. You should get one that rolls you a bit off of the big toe, so that you're not putting as much pressure on it with each step (but not too far over, or you'll end up with pain on the outside of your foot too!)

[alonewiththemoon]

That's right, that's the affected part of your foot. Thanks for the orthotic tip--my feet are such a mess, I already roll to the outside so I'm not sure what the next sort of support should do for me. I'm going to try cushioning and resting as much as possible and see what that does.

I want new feet for my birthday ;-)

[silentq.livejournal.com]

Dr. Alper will also do a quick and dirty adjustment on a pair of Spenco inserts for you, that's a lot easier, and worked for my initial problem. He put in a bit of padding right under the problem area as well as rolling me a bit off of it, and it provided a lot of relief.

*puts new joints on her wishlist as well* :)

[kambriel.livejournal.com]

Currently, my left foot has a lot of pain in the arch area everytime I stand or walk on it (as if the tendon's tight or something), and my right foot has an area from the arch up towards the inner ankle with the telltale eletrical pinched nerve sensation. I think it must be coming from years of sitting on my feet like some crazed yogi ~ that's the best thought I have on it. I've never dealt with this before though, and it's frustrating to say the least when I walk around ~ alternating "ow's" and "ugh's".

[alonewiththemoon]

Sitting on your feet could definitely cause plantar fasciitis, which is what arch pain often is--it puts a very unnatural stress on the arch. Do a lot of calf stretches to help relieve some of the tension, and ice the injured area at least once a day. You can also pick up things with your toes to help build strength in the arch, and a week of anti-inflammatories (ibuprufin or similar) can help. Also, wearing shoes with a stable platform (no twisting) will make a difference.

If the pain continues or gets sharper, do see a doctor--this isn't one to mess with. :-(

[kambriel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice. You know, I'm so bad at taking pain relief medications that it didn't even occur to me to take anything yet. I will do the things you suggested, in addition to working on breaking my many-year long habit of bad sitting postures (that's going to be the bigger challenge).

I think I'm getting to a phase in life where certain bad habits are beginning to haunt me and say, "No more". Hopefully I'll be able to get rid of this pain on my own. The probability of a doctor visit is low since I don't have any medical insurance. I once dealt with a completely broken right foot several years ago with no treatment at all... now *that* was pain. I guess that's why I right "smaller" things off :( Sad thing is, that was caused by falling on the icy steps (on Christmas eve, no less) outside our building when they weren't sanded, and the owner's insurance policy surely would have covered it. See, I'm not a very good American ~ it didn't occur to me to "sue", even though it would have been a definite case.

(And you'll be proud ~ I typed all this sitting like a "normal" person!)

[alonewiththemoon]

Here's an article that outlines some of the things you can do on your own to help with PF--my physical therapist had me doing all of these stretches and exercises (plus a few others with rubber band things, but these will get you started). The high cost of health care definitely sucks but your feet are the only ones you'll ever have and you need them to last you a lifetime. If you hit the excruciatingly painful stage of this, you should try to find a doctor who will see you.

I'm so glad that I started doing yoga. Age definitely begins to creep up on one at this point, with less healing and elasticity in the body, but the yoga classes are probably going to add much comfort to my life in the long run.

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

now I want to see what a choo-choo shimmy looks like ...

[alonewiththemoon]

well, you won't see one from me any time soon :-/

[nepenthedreams]

I really hate choo-choo shimmy. I don't even have the feet issues that you do, but that one hurts me.

[alonewiththemoon]

I really like doing it and using it in a performance, it feels like pulling energy up out of the ground, but I don't like the aftereffects :-(