Reevaluation

Back to the doc last night to update him on what all had transpired since my last visit and see what he could do to help me going forward. My big concern in all this has been that I may have developed some sort of fracture in my 5th metatarsal, whether it be of the stress variety or an avulsion fracture (basically where a tendon pulls loose and takes a chunk of bone with it). However, having had a stress fracture in my foot before, this hasn’t had the same symptoms I demonstrated last time. There is little to no swelling, and I’ve had a hard time locating one particular sore spot anywhere on my foot. The only thing that really reproduces the pain is putting weight on the outside of my foot, which is usually indicative of the cuboid bone being out of place (yes, over the years I’ve become quite the master of human anatomy, at least as it applies to the lower extremities that are involved with running related injuries).

In any event, Dr. Gilbert examined my foot a little more extensively this time and said he doesn’t think it’s any sort of fracture either, although I guess it still can’t be ruled out. He also worked more aggressively on adjusting it this time and was able to get my ankle to free up, something he couldn’t accomplish the week before. My calcaneus bone (where the achilles inserts) was also pretty well locked, and he got it freed up too. Add in an adjustment to the cuboid and some stretching, and I left there feeling as good as I have in a while.

Unfortunately I’m still not pain free walking around today, although I am improved over yesterday. If I get about the same amount of improvement over the next couple, I might be pain free by the end of the week. If so, I’ll want at least another day or two past that before trying to run. I pushed too soon last Friday and paid the price afterward, and I don’t need another setback. At this point, if I can get out of this with no more than two weeks lost, I’ll consider it a victory.