PF (Read 687 times)

Mark - Ow! I had that a few years ago, BEFORE I started running. That HURTS! There are a lot of different fixes out there. REALLY IMPORTANT - *DON'T* walk on your tippy-toes even though you probably want to . That makes the cause of the problem worse. What worked for me was getting new shoes and stretching BEFORE I got out of bed in the morning - I still do this - pulling your toes back towards your shins to stretch the calves out before you actually put weight on the foot. You can use a towel to help pull your foot backwards if you're not that flexible, because you should do it with a straight leg. There are anti-inflammatories, orthotics, braces, even cortisol shots to the bottom of the foot (::shudder!: that people use to fix the problem. If you don't have a sports doc or podiatrist, this might be a good time to get one. Good luck! Janell

Hey Mark I had a very "minor" case of this.. in reality I probably was starting to develop the condition and then was able to reverse it through stretching, excercise, and decreased mileage (in agreement with what is written here by others). From what I understand, its not exactly like other muscle tears in that there is actually a little bit of necrosis (muscle death) that occurs. So I think the thing to do is try to tip the balance by decreasing mileage/intensity (at least a little, I know this is frustrating) and trying to build/stimulate muscle with careful stretches and excercise. I think it's very important to avoid hills/speed workouts as this puts you on your toes more which can cause more damage? One of the hard things is that it tends to tighten up whenever you leave your foot plantarflexed for a few hours (sleeping or even long car rides!) so you are especially prone to re-injury when you get out of bed in the a.m. (which is why some methods involve a sleeping-brace). So I would recommend stretching (carefully!) in the morning and leave a pair of running shoes (or other shoes with good support) next to your bed so you NEVER have to walk barefoot. As for excercises, there are lots of good ones. I really liked a simple one where you stand (or sit) barefoot flat on the floor and alternate between lifting your big toe off the floor (keep the others down) and lifting your other toes off the floor (keep your big toe down). I would do that one in all my spare time. Also, I would make a point of trying to keep my foot dorsi-flexed whenever possible. I think these things helped me a lot, but of course, my one anecdotal story doesn't really prove anything! Best of luck.