A Week To Heal The Heel

Today I ran again after last Friday's injury. I went cycling on Sunday for about 60 km. I kept using the wooden roller and other recommended exercises for plantar fasciitis. Meanwhile I was also exercising my upper body and stretching the lower body. I can now do 6x3 push ups and 4x3 dands (Indian push ups which is similar to surya pranam). The pain on the tricep is ebbing out a bit.

Today I felt confident enough to go out for a run and ran a slow 2 km. I maintained a steady pace of 7 min per kilometer. I am happy with this controlled run. It shows I am maturing as a runner who can control his pace.

During the run the foot was hurting a bit. But I kept at it. It didn't increase significantly after the run. 

Back To Running

After a long hiatus I started running once again a few weeks ago. Started with 1 km of easy runs every alternate evening. Soon it became 2 km. The plantar pain, though was there, didn't cause any major hindrance. Gradually my pace was coming down. Last night I tried to do something differently. Instead of focusing on my pace, I ran with the BPM screen on and every time I would feel out of breadth I would look at the BPM and know that nothing was wrong there. This would give me a mental boost and I would keep running at the same pace instead of slowing down. 

This resulted in a fantastic time (relative to my usual times). Came back home feeling great. But later at night, when I was at the computer, I suddenly realised, while getting up, that there was a sharp pain behind the heel. 

I used the wooden roller continuously. Did the towel pulls with my toes. It came under control but not totally gone. Early morning today, it was pretty bad. Tomorrow I shall go cycling. Let me see where this pain takes me in terms of running. If needed I will once again go on a hiatus for a long time. 

Plantar Fasciitis Nailed

I think I finally got to understand the root cause behind my plantar fasciitis. A few weeks ago I realised that the root cause was the tight inner thigh muscle of my left leg. The foot was coming under unnatural stress to compensate for that. 

While I was doing a lot of stretches for the various thigh muscles, the pain was not really going. It would come back almost every day. Just a little. But you know it's there. Then last week my daughter's school entered the holiday mode and I started commuting to work by my motorcycle instead of the SUV. In two days I realised the early morning pain under the foot was gone. I soon realised there was a link between the pain and driving my Duster. The inner thigh gets strained due to the hard clutch pedal and with a few days' driving rest it was now coming back to  normal. A few things now made sense. I used to feel the maximum pain after the morning's drive when I would drop my daughter to school and wife to her office. It was about a 40/45 minutes' drive every working morning.

Although I long suspected this, it was one of those Archimedes moments. Ever since, I have not driven the car for more than a week now. There is still a little bit of pain on the Achilles. I am hoping it will go soon. I propose to run tonight. Just a kilometre or two perhaps and with proper pre-run stretch and post run nutrition. Let me see what happens.

April 9, 2018

I did run for a kilometer that night. But the pain worsened and I have since stopped running altogether once again. For cardio exercise I would rather go for cycling more often and of course swimming. I have also noticed that at night if I sleep with my feet elevated on two pillows, the pain remains almost muted. However, if I don't - the pain is considerably high the next day. For example, last night (which was a Sunday) I had to apply ice to bring down the pain. But this morning I woke up almost pain free. This is about not using and using a couple of pillows under my feet respectively.

Complete Rest

I ran through January and February 2018 (check out my Garmin Connect data) with a little bit of plantar fasciitis pain. Finally towards the end of February I decided that I must give adequate rest to the foot and completely recover from the pain and then run. Because every time I run the pain gets aggravated a bit. Of course the severity goes away the next morning but it is a never ending cycle. I want to break the cycle. 

Right now I am strength training and stretching. I think I am soon going to come back as a better runner. Recently in Manas National Park, Partha showed me a few exercises for the deltoids. I am doing them with 3 kg weights. Ten reps into 3 sets. I am also doing bicep curls with 5 kg+ weights. 

I am doing some Swiss ball core strengthening and push ups also. Four into 3 sets. This new strength is really reassuring. Even a few days ago I could push up only from the elbows with knees bent on the ground. That's like a child with no strength. From there four reps into three is not bad. Target is to take it to 10x3. 

I guess I am gaining some muscle mass. I eat several meals a day. That should help. 

A 2 km Run With A Bad Plantar Fasciitis

Today I went for a 2-km run. A gingerly 13 minute activity. My neutral shoes are helping. I can now understand that the tight hip adductor in the left thigh caused the problem in the first place. I am working on it. Let's hope it is repaired soon and that my footstrike becomes more balanced. It was tinkered due to the tight inner thigh muscle. It will take time for it to free up. But I am working on it.

My footstrike with the new UA Gemini is more silent now. I love the neutrality of the shoes. 

Just Hang In There

Last Sunday got a black 1 inch dia GI pipe fitted across the wall in our bathroom. This is to do chin ups or chinning as we used to say in our youth. Ever since the fracture of the wrist in Chadar, my hands have become extremely weak. Range of movements, particularly in the shoulders, is very compromised. There is hardly any strength in my hands, shoulders and back. While I am doing various exercises and stretches now, I thought a chin up bar at home will possibly improve things. It's an excellent upper body exercise, particularly for the arms and back muscles. 

Kushuda came with a helper and fixed it next to the bathroom curtain rod. He dug two holes on either side and inserted the pipe before jamming them with cement. 

I realised to my horror, while chin ups will take a very long time for me to execute, even holding the bar and hanging there for 2/3 seconds is tough. With daily practice, multiple times a day, I have now brought it up to a count of 12/15, which is nothing but 6/7 seconds. I hope to take it to a minute. But clearly, that will take time. 

There are three ways in which you can hold a bar to hang. A. The easiest is the Pull Up grip. Here your palms are facing outward. This grip is relatively easy for me to hang on to the bar. B. The Underhand Grip is the other one. I am finding this more difficult for just hanging on. This is probably because of the way my hand muscles are frozen right now. Otherwise for chin ups the underhand grip is the way easier one than the pull up grip. But I am not talking about any movement. Just hanging on still is a challenge now. C. There is a third grip which I am using also to practice hanging. And this is also difficult. It's a sideways grip, like you would grip a bamboo or a long rod if you were to walk with it. I think javelin throwers also grip their javelins in this way. Essentially one hand is overhand while the other is underhand. 

My immediate goal is to be strong enough to hang for one minute. This in itself is a good isometric exercise. The deltoids are really being tested and stretched. Pulls ups will come much later.

Tuesday, 26th December 2017

When I started hanging on a Sunday, I could hang in there for a maximum of 2/3 counts. Not even 2/3 seconds perhaps. I kept trying and did three sets each morning and evening and increased the time bit by bit. By the next Sunday (two days ago), I could hang on for a count of 25 seconds. This is how the body responds to gradual conditioning.

But then I realised that I was basically using my palm and wrist power to hang on and using the forearm power very little. When I was letting the force of the body weight come right up to my deltoid, I could barely keep at it for a count of ten. The hands were trembling vigorously.

I started practising this style of hanging from Monday - Christmas day of 2017. Today I found the vigorous trembling of the hands is gone. Hanging more purposefully for a count of ten. Let me see what the future holds.

This morning I could also do a short padmasana for a few seconds keeping the left foot on the right thigh first. To me this was next to impossible even till yesterday because my hip abductor on the left foot was pretty tight. I hope to improve the flexibility of my left hip abductors first. That is perhaps the root of this plantar fasciitis injury.

The Plantar Raises Its Ugly Head Again

Yesterday I came down with a bad injury once again. The plantar fasciitis raised its ugly head. I was running along fine towards the end of my evening 5K. It was only another 50 meters or so from what would be my fastest 5K. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain on the inside of the heel of my left foot (anterior part). I should have stopped immediately but I did not. I finished the run - about 30/40 meters and then almost limped back home. It was unusually humid last night.

I know too well now that although the pain is on the heel the real culprit is the weak plantar. Applied ice two times last night and Volini this morning (this was a first for me and it produced no result). This morning being Sunday called Madhav and took a deep tissue massage which helped a bit. Tied the crepe to lock the foot (so that it does not drop) while sleeping in the afternoon. It helped somewhat. Tomorrow I am going to get for myself a splint. I think it will help cure the damn thing once and for all. 

There is no swelling or anything. So there is no tear. Just a pain. Nothing major. I am sure it will take me out of action for at least a week. Let's see. 

Actually my original plantar injury never went away and I picked up running after Amsterdam only because I had bought a new pair of running shorts. After the first 5K I was feeling a bit of pain in the early mornings. I should have taken it more seriously and not run 5K just yet perhaps. But one has to take chances.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Last night I had creped the foot so that it did not move forward or "drop" (which aggravates the pain). The morning was much better. I am definitely going to get the splint tonight.  I hope they have it and within a reasonable range. Keeping the foot immobile at night is critical. In fact one of the reasons why the plantar fasciitis does not want to cure quickly is that the injury happens repeatedly due to the normal tendencies of the foot to drop forward when you are sitting on a chair at work.

Spoke to Sarada Pharmacy just now (it's about 1 pm). They call it a foot drop splint. They have it and it costs Rs 770. Let me see if it's of any use.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Finally got a grip on the problem. From a youtube video I started doing Vajrasana and got immediate relief. This is so much contradictory to conventional medical advice that at first I was not only skeptical but was apprehensive too that I might aggravate the situation. But the comments under the video gave me some confidence and I tried it out. It worked almost right away.

Last night I kept the crepe bandage on and this morning there was no pain when I got up from bed. However, the pain came back gradually albeit not with the same intensity. If this rate of remission happens then I should be pain free by this weekend.

Yesterday I had gone to check out the foot drop splint at Sarada. It's a very basic and cheapo kind of a solution which I did not buy. The plastic hard shell does not come with any soft cover. It would be very uncomfortable to wear even when I am awake. There is no question of sleeping with such a useless thing on. It would prick me all the time. So dropped the idea of buying it and used the crepe instead to stop foot drop.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

The pain continues. I have been massaging off and on. Crepe-ing the foot at night. Doing vajrasana. All these help to reduce pain but does not cure it. It is definitely much less now. But I am not fit enough to run or jump. I have to give it more time to heal. Perhaps another week. The problem with old age is recovery takes a long time. Whatever be the injury, it takes a long time to recover. I guess because cell regeneration does not happen as fast as it used to when I was younger.

Plantar recovery is particularly difficult because the foot injures itself repeatedly. I have to take the "no more than 10 per cent increment in one week when you are running for more than half an hour" advice more seriously. I jumped straight from 4 km to 5 km. Thee to four is an even sharper rise but that's happening well within the 30 minute mark. Above 30 minutes the rules of the game change. I should have been more cautious.

I was the typical old man in a hurry. And I have to pay for it.

But I have noticed that every time I have been out of action due to some over use injury, I have come back much stronger and have achieved greater things. Injuries are nothing but weaknesses leaving the body. The first time around, I got injured after 5 minutes. This has kept on increasing. Now I got injured after 5 kilometers. I am sure the next injury will happen when I cross 10K. I will. I promise to myself.

Saturday, December 2, 2017

It's been two weeks now since the injury struck me. Today I realised my gait has become normal. I am at least not limping any more. There is some pain still. I hope this will go down soon. Perhaps another week. I will give it adequate time.

I noticed that stretching the hamstring helps quite a bit. The muscles in the leg are all connected to one another like in a chain. One has to stretch them all, one by one for good effect.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Started taking medicines from yesterday. Flexon. Two tablets every day. After meal. One antacid in the morning in empty stomach. Prescribed by Partha. Felt much better this morning. The pain was completely gone in the morning. Now it is 11.30 am. The pain is coming back a little. But nothing major.

Actually I had gone for a long walk on Monday evening. Four kilometers to be precise. The pain increased a little after that. I felt there was some swelling too near the heel. That's why decided to go for anti-inflammatory medicines. Partha said take it for 2/3 days. I guess 2 days should be enough. Let's see.

Monday, December 11, 2017

Got the Azani plantar compression socks yesterday. A pair for Rs 880. Little on the higher side, I would think. It had arrived on Saturday but I couldn't go out due to an untimely rain. Yesterday went to the office and collected it. It is pretty thin but gives a good compression. Let me see if this helps. When I sit for an hour or so it pains. When I walk it is gone. Yesterday walked upto CRC in my Meindl. Today it is a little painful. Yesterday it was not.

The Azani brand has different compression items. A little expensive but the quality seems good. I think I will get for myself a brief from them. Let me get fit first.