MY LEFT FOOT

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Well, I’m stumped about what to write about today. So I’m going to grump about my aches and pains. I’m at an age when that’s legal and my right. You’ve heard me talking about my plantar fasciitis on and off all this month. It didn’t just happen in January. It has been an ongoing thing for a long, long time.

I’ve had problem with my left foot for so long, I can’t remember where the pain started – heel or ankle. I know that I couldn’t do a lot of walking or running. I don’t do the treadmill at the gym. I got a tricycle to run Sheba with when she was a puppy. I couldn’t walk to work regularly without developing pain. I must have done ok walking as a nurse. It wasn’t walking continuously. It was go, stop, go, etc. I don’t remember experiencing any feet discomfort. That is except for the time someone ran over my foot with a stretcher with a patient on it. My little toe was broken. It hurt for months.

This time my foot pain started in the fall in my left heel. It got so bad that it was painful to walk from Fresco to the Dollar Store in Market Mall and even to my parents house which is only half a block away. I bought a couple pairs of new shoes, insoles and wedges. All to no avail. I was already doing stretches, heel raises, etc. Also to no avail. Then it popped into my mind that my problem could be due to poor body alignment. Social media and YouTube are wonderful sources of helpful exercises.

So after a month of doing some hip, arm and feet exercise, I’m getting relief longer than a moment. I had a wonderful ski out at Wildwood Golf Course. I did the whole outside perimeter. I was feeling it in my foot by the end. It was a little stiff and achy first thing this morning but with a round of exercises, it went away. It was not only a left foot thing. It was a left body thing.

Day 25 – the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

5 MINUTES

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It is day 11 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m still here. It’s remarkable since I’m finding 5 minutes of doing nothing a hell of a long time. I’m trying to rehab my left plantar fasciitis. I’ve discovered that the root cause is my body alignment is out of whack – for many years. I’ve been clenching my whole left side forever and a day. I have left sided discomfort from my face down to my foot. I’ve been like that so long I kind of gotten used to that until my left heel pain was so excruciating that it was hard to walk even a few steps. It stopped me in my tracks. I had to give it some consideration.

I bought a few pair of shoes and different gizmos to put inside them. They didn’t really worked. I looked online for a fix and a body shop and found the pain academy. Or rather it found me. In this case social media was very helpful. When I googled heel pain, all kinds of things pop up in my Instagram feed, including Vinny from the Pain Academy. He shared many exercises that I thought would help me. After doing them, I realized that they were similar to the ones from my mobility class at the YWCA.

The first exercise was to rest the body for 5 minutes to get it in a neutral state. It is really restful but 5 minutes is a long time to stay put on the floor with your legs up on a chair at 90° angle. I started fiddling and squirming within seconds. And my mind went crazy, darting all over kingdom come. I’m doing a little better now with some practice. It’s a good exercise to do to let go of the tension in your body. I never realized how much till now.

Well, this is more than 5 minutes now. I have to stop. I’ll be back tomorrow with more. But hey, I think my heel pain is going!