Grounded

 I like to walk. I put on about 10,000,000 steps last year.  However, on doctors orders, I have been grounded. Planter fasciitis, which I have had since about 2014 or so, has acted up,in a big way.  It is painful and very difficult to walk.  It started getting really bad on about Dec 1, and it got so bad that I could hardly walk.  But, me, being me, I of course wanted to get my minimum 10,000 steps in a day, and that was painful.  There were only three days since Jan 1 of last year until Jan 5 of 2021 that I did not record over 10,000 steps a day, and those were Jan 1, 2020, which I got about 9,000, and two days in mid-December (14 and 15), in which I listened to my wife, and I reduced or did not take my walk to see what would occur. I am a patient man, so I thought let me see what happens in those two days.  The pain did not subside, so I went back to my near-usual routine, regardless of the pain and would got in my 10,000 steps each day since. If it is going to hurt, well, you may as well get something out of the hurt.  Playing football back in the 60's and 70's the mantra was no pain no gain.

From Google Images

I messaged my doctor on Dec 12, and asked, after explaining my foot pain and what I have been doing, if he would like to see me or get me to a podiatrist.  He wanted to see me first. On December 15, I saw my regular doctor, and asked if I should stop walking.  He said he is not one to suggest cutting down on exercise.  So, I started up walking again, regardless of the pain. My wife says that was his way of saying to stop. Now, I need to get this out early: my wife suggested to me, back when the pain flared up, that I should stop my regular walking, and give my foot a rest. She suggested yoga, but I had done a day of yoga and shortly after the pain flared up, so I chose not do it again. She had since suggested several times that I should lay off the walking, most recently on Monday of this week, when she said, "You can hardly walk, I don't know why you continue to do your walk."

My doctor, at the Dec 15 appointment, allowed me to see a podiatrist. I was given a list of a few different practices, and chose one, called and got the earliest appointment for Jan 5.  I thought that UW Health would have podiatrists on staff, but they don't. I guess podiatrists are like optometrists, in that they have a separate practice outside of UW Health, but are somewhat affiliated and take Quartz insurance. My podiatrists is at University Hospital every Wednesday. 

From Google Images

In 2015, I changed my shoe type and have been wearing special inserts.  That seemed to work, although I had a flare up while working at the garden center in May of 2019.  I switched, while working at the garden center, from tennis to hiking shoes which helped. I have worn hiking shoes for daily activity ever since. So, I now have the 2020 flare up.

"Consider yourself injured!" is what the podiatrist told me on Jan 5. I told her that I got a minimum 10,000 steps in since the flare up for all but two days in December. She noted that if I had a broken arm I would not continue to use that arm. (I thought, of course not, it would be in a cast.) We finally agreed that I could do a walk of about a mile a day, which is usually about 2,100 steps for me. My wife says that I told her that I should limit activity for twelve weeks, I said she misheard, that it was 12 weeks off the foot if a tear.  With the flare up I walk slower, use shorter steps and take more time.  My main 2.7 mile route I used to do in 5200 to 5300 steps, but since the flare up it has been taking me 5,900 to 6,000.  Getting say now 2,300 steps in a walk is a far cry from my normal first walk route of 2.7 miles, which was sometimes supplemented with the mile route, or a 1.7 mile route depending on how many steps I was getting that particular day, thee weather and other factors. Therefore I am grounded, like the Dreamliner, both due to a software issue. I did tell the doctor that the worst thing of all of this would be going home and telling my wife that I have been grounded, something she has been trying to tell me for a month.  I realized, I have listened to my wife, just a month late.

Insoles recommended by Podiatrist

My wife has (had?) planter fasciitis, so she knows what I am going through. The problem is going to be having to alter my habit of getting a minimum 10,000 steps a day, when I am used to walking.  I am sure I would have put on more steps if my foot had not hurt through the month of December. The problem now is that my right foot is hurting too. My feet, the doctor said, are lean and she could feel the ligaments and the bone structure as she palpitated each foot. Perhaps, if I had more fat on the pads of my feet, I would have had more cushion, and I guess not be as subjected to the pain I am now having. Why cannot the fat in my waste go to the soles of my feet?  It does not work that way, teh foot make up of arch and fat on the soles is genetics. Although, I am doing all the right things--icing, taping and having used inserts it still flared up--dramatically. I did, however, purchase a full insole insert suggested by the doctor as she believes it helps better distribute weight over the foot.

They X-rayed both feet, and found a small bone spur in the left, but the doctor did not think that was the cause of the pain.  I had and ultrasound today, and and other appointment on Jan 19 to review the results and find the course of action.  The team, a clinician and a radiology resident did my feet and left to consult with the radiologist to see if anything else was needed.  The radiologist who read the reports came in to do my right foot again. She told me no tears, but did not offer up much else. If my planter fascia is frayed, I could be in a boot for a 3 or so weeks.  My mouth dropped when I heard this comment. If neither frayed or torn, and depending upon the inflammation they may do a steroid injection to ease the inflammation, and prescribe custom-made inserts.  Now get this, the podiatrist also said if I do get the steroid injection, I will still be under limitations--to protect me from myself. I wonder why that would be the case.  I think my wife laughed and shook her head when I told her this.  My wife said if anyone needs to be saved from themselves it is me. My wife does not believe I ask sufficient questions, or fully listen to what a doctor says, glossing over the parts of being grounded, for example. I guess the injection makes your feet feel so much better that you want to get up and about and then over do it and worsen the situation. Would I do that?

Back of Box of insoles

As I am now grounded I now need to wait twelve days to see more on the results, and what course of action is prescribed, and find out for how long I am grounded.  Will it be just a few weeks, or is my wife right, it will be three  months? I now have to find some other method to get some exercise. There goes my resolution of getting more than 10,000 steps a day in this year.