Jammed

It seems I post more often when injured than when not. Hmmmmm. I made my third visit to Dr. Gilbert last night with a couple goals in mind. First, I wanted to get my foot worked on one last time before starting to run, which I will probably do tomorrow. Second, I told him that one of my goals going forward is to see if I can’t kick the chronic right achilles pain that has plagued me for probably close to 5 years now. I’ve always been able to keep it mostly at bay with eccentric calf raises and a little additional treatment, but not only is it annoying, but I think it may be contributing to other problems (or a symptom of other problems). I know it probably causes me to alter my form from time to time and also makes my stride less powerful, and since one of my goals is to get some speed back, I’ve got an additional reason to get it taken care of.

At any rate, the doc worked a lot on my ankle and lower leg last night, and I felt considerably better walking out of there. He had to do quite a bit of adjusting, stretching, and massage to get my ankle and calcaneus to loosen up and move, as both were really jammed. My fibula in that leg was not tracking properly either, so he worked on that as well. All of that should help with my achilles pain. I’ve gotten diligent with calf stretching over the past few days too, something I’ve always neglected but plan on continuing from here on out. Hopefully if I do that and get some treatment once or twice a month, I can eventually get the achilles to 100%. If I can, I think it would make a big difference in several areas.

On the good side of things, Dr. Gilbert said my back and pelvis were in the best shape he’s ever seen them in, and he’s seen them really bad, believe me. I think working on my core as I’ve been doing and getting a few adjustments the past couple weeks has really helped that. Looks like that’s something else I’ll need to continue. It gets to be a lot to keep up with, but I guess that’s part of getting older. You spend less time working out and more doing maintenance stuff. Not necessarily an optimal scenario, but one I’m willing to work with if it means being able to run fast for a few more years.

Anyway, as mentioned earlier, I plan on trying to run again tomorrow night. My foot is now pain free, not only when walking but even when I roll all my weight onto the outside of it. I figured I’d give it today off to make it a day or two past being completely pain free before attempting to run. Hopefully that will be enough and my next update will be to confirm a pain free run. Wish me luck!