Treadmills

[studor]

Bird
Don't think I would go the shot route -- I went for physio once a week for about four weeks and had a nice looking young lady massage my foot and then put the ultrasound on it for about half an hour and then shock therapy. Worked like a charm and the view wasn't bad either

 

[Bird]

Don't think I would go the shot route

I'd be a bit reluctant to go that way myself, both because of some of the cons I've read and because I hate having needles stuck in my foot. You see I also have scars from surgery 60 years ago when they cut across the top of the big toe, and 3 parallel cuts on top of the foot (51 stitches, if I remember right) to remove the tendons or leaders from the top of my foot to splice the Achilles tendon, which was shrinking, or at least failing to grow, as a result of polio. So I can't wiggle the toes on my left foot. But I had needles stuck in the bottom of my foot about 53 years ago to deaden it before the doctor burned a plantar wart from right in the middle of the bottom of the foot, and I had needles to deaden it for a doctor to cut on and straighten a toe about 20 years ago. It's hard to hold still when someone sticks a needle in your foot.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Bird,

I know a little about stretching. Only do it when the muscles are warmed up, never stretch a cold muscle. Don't stretch to the point of where you feel pain. A little discomfort is okay, but no pain. Don't bounce the muscle while stretching, slow and steady is the key. I guess the calf muscle in most people needs to be stretched more. By stretching for a longer duration, 3 minutes, the muscle gets accustomed to being stretched that far and will let you stretch it further as time goes by. You can even hold a stretch for 20 minutes or more. I regularly sit in my leg stretcher for up to a half hour at a time. The science of stretching is called kineseology. (sp) There's a lot of fascinating reading on the web.

The short duration stretching, 10 to 15 seconds or even less, is called dynamic stretching which is good to do too. But the static stretching for longer periods is really what helps.

Good luck, Andy.

 

[ultrarunner]

Very timely and keep us posted on your recovery...

I never had any feet problems till I spent a 3 day weekend on my BX23...

My right heel couldn't bear any weight and I hobbled in to see the Doc... He told me to stay off the tractor and use a night splint. It's been 5 weeks and I'm just itching to get some seat time...

Good Luck and I can truly say, I feel your pain.

 

[Runner]

Bird,

Sorry to hear about the foot problems. I run and walk 32 miles a week or so, and have had plantar fasciatis before too. No fun, but for me it was only temporary and I was over it in few days. Aspirin before the run helped and it always seemed like once I got started and warmed up, the pain went away. Haven't had it in a long time now.

I had something else happened though, that you might want to know about. My doctor told me my cholesterol was a "little high" and as a knee-jerk reaction, put me on Lipitor. I figured it couldn't hurt, but after a few weeks of taking it, I started having extreme foot pain and joint pain, to the point I could barely stand. I thought I was having planatar fasciatis again an that it would go away, but it never did.

Finally, I concluded that the only thing that had changed in my life was taking the Lipitor. So I stopped taking it and problem solved. This has been about a year ago and I have had no more foot/joint problems.

Something to think about if you're taking any medications and exercising.

Best of luck with your situation.

 

[Bird]

That's interesting, Gary. I'd have never thought Lipitor would cause something like that, but it does seem that most medicines that are advertised have more bad side effects than the ailment they're meant to cure. I do take a 12.5 mg capsule of Hydrochlorothiazide and a 20 mg tablet of Simvastatin each day, which my doctor says is about as mild a dose of blood pressure and cholesterol medicines as there is.

 

[Runner]

The doc also told me to start taking an aspirin a day, blood thinner I guess. Anyway, I work outside around the house where I'm constantly getting scratches, etc, and in the shop wrenching on things. I swear, on that regimen, even the tiniest scratch and I thought I was going to bleed to death. So I stopped that too.

Because I've been running for years, I do not have blood pressure problems and all the tests showed that I have no arterial blockage whatsoever. Therefore, I got the impression that the Lipitor and aspirin was recommended just as a precaution that they give to any guy over 50.

I never even thought about the idea that Lipitor might cause those kinds of side effects, but even the product label says that it can. It was also giving me headaches to which I was never prone before or since.

If I really thought that I had a problem, I'd probably try and find some other regimen to address it, but this all seemed like overkill to me, so I made the decision to stop it.

 

[tglass]

Bird, I also saw about the flat foot with the powerstep, and the foot Dr. told me my arches were almost higher than a normal foot. Anyway, they worked for me.
Runner I guess I've never saw that on the bottle and I do take Lipitor. How long did it take before you felt a change after discontinuing it?

 

[Runner]

tglass,

I'm not sure I saw the side effects on the bottle. I think it was on one of those product data sheets that comes with it, you know, the microscopic fine print about three pages long?

You can also see what other people have experienced if you google lipitor side effects on the computer.

Anyway, I was completely back to normal in a couple of weeks and have not had a recurrance of the pain since. My feet and joints hurt so bad that I literally couldn't stand up in the morning when I first got out of bed. Eventually, it would subside a little, but trying to run with that pain was terrible.

 

[pennwalk]

Bird, My wife has Plantar Fasciitis. She does the stretching exercises and got prescription inserts for her shoes. The doc suggested a big can of frozen lemonade to roll her foot over when it was hurting. She is doing much better. The cortisone shots didn't help her very much. About the pain from statin drugs. Her doctor recommended trying CoQ10. It is supposed to help some and not others. AARP had an article about how beneficial walking is. My doctor has recommended it for me. It is hard to get my heart rate in the 130-140 range that he recommends. I'm more of a stroller.

Chris