A Good Plodder On-er

The pain in my foot during my ultra last Saturday made me resolve to make an appointment at the physiotherapists. My foot felt surprisingly better on Sunday but I still made an appointment. The worsening of the pain after two short runs on Tuesday and Wednesday convinced me I had made the right decision.

I have been injured before, the first “sporting” injury I had was at karate. We were sparring, and someone swept me to the floor catching my foot wrong and hitting it hard. The sensei had said he wanted no injuries and if anyone was injured we would all be doing push ups. I did not want to be responsible for the whole class doing push ups so, despite being an adult in my late thirties, I carried on through three more rounds of sparring. I was then over ten years away from discovering I was autistic. I always struggled to be sure what is joking and what is serious and also was aware I was a misfit and desperately didn’t want to do anything to make myself more of an outcast. One round in particular was hard as it was a very proficient man who was a lot bigger than me and he kept kicking me in the thighs and shouting that I needed to move. The pain in my foot prevented me from dodging much and now my thighs were sore too. I got through the rest of the class and got home but that night my foot became more and more swollen and a darker and darker shade of red, purple and black. I couldn’t drive to work the next day but luckily at the time a friend, a veterinary nurse, and I used to car share. My job at the time was at a clinic where I just operated so I managed to do this standing with a knee on a stool. The hardest thing was when I was scrubbed up I had to hop around from the sink to the operating table. My friend kept saying it was broken and I was insisting it was fine and would be ok if I ignored it. After three days of this the nurse had had enough and insisted on taking me to the hospital on the way home. She kindly waited while I was taken to x-ray. When I came back through being pushed in a wheelchair by a nurse and said it was broken she made a pumping action and went “yes!” which was not a good look as she was in uniform and probably appeared to be a very uncaring carer. This was before I started running but even so 6 weeks in a cast was not fun, especially with work and children but I got speedy on crutches and fortunately I only missed a small amount of work where I had to be on call and obviously could not drive anywhere.

Much worse was the next karate based injury. The adults class includes advanced and older teens. We were sparring again. I was sparring with a teenager who was far more skilful than I ever was. He went to kick me at the same time as I went to sweep him. The result was that I knocked him to the ground. This is very common during sparring but because he was on one leg as I swept him and caught unawares he fell badly and landed on his hand. One glance at the angle of his wrist told me that this was “proper broken”. The poor lad went white as a sheet and I was so grateful that our small group included an experienced nurse who took charge. I anxiously awaited the arrival of the boy’s father but he was obviously more focussed on his son at the time who had to undergo surgery. For the next few weeks I was very anxious that the parents would wreak vengeance upon me which was very stressful but luckily, apart from being teased about being a child beater from that point on I did not suffer any repercussions. I was pleased that I went to a responsible club that insists on all members holding insurance. Paperwork and bureaucracy have their place.

My running injuries to date have been fairly undramatic. I had orthotics fitted a few years ago and these have helped. I am fortunate that I am fairly physically robust and bounce back pretty easily. I am also desperate to keep running so am happy to work on any exercises given to the precise instructions advised.

Back to my current injury, seeing a physiotherapist is not cheap. Going through the NHS for a running related injury is not really an option as they quite rightly cannot focus on return to sporting activity. I feel guilty spending money on something that I have caused myself and guilty for accessing healthcare for a non essential reason. It is partly the cost that made me put it off but also it is hard admitting that ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. Luckily I have found a very understanding and friendly physiotherapist locally. I have seen her before and previously seen her colleagues and the main things I like about her and the clinic are.

1) She is good at her job. Her advice and treatment have always been spot on and helped me return to running.

2) She knows how important it is to me to keep running and will adapt advice to prioritise this.

3) She is always happy to talk about my work and/or her dog during any treatment so there are topics I am comfortable and familiar with and I don’t have to worry about what to say.

4) Neither the physio I have seen for the last few injuries or either of the physios before have commented or been weird about my scars. It can be a shock to people when they see my legs and I have had other health professionals say all sorts of inappropriate things so it is a big thing for me that they just treat me normally and don’t make any sort of deal about them.

I have a funny relationship with touch. I am very tactile with my immediate family and hug a lot. I also am ok with hugs from people I am very close to, especially people younger than me that I feel maternal towards. Having my hair cut is torture which is mostly why I have done it myself for most of my life. The thought of going to a spa and having any sort of treatment is horrific, being touched by strangers and “relaxing” is my idea of hell. Being touched by a medical professional for a specific purpose however is not as bad. Physio treatment often involves massage and I have also had sports massages. These are to fulfil a purpose and despite often involving some physical pain are not as difficult as you would think for someone who does not like strangers touching them.

I got an appointment this Wednesday and off I went with high hopes of a few treatment sessions and some exercises and all back to normal. Probably if I had gone when my foot started hurting it would have been this simple but because I like pretending things will go away it probably will take a bit more work. I was told that it is likely to be Tibialis posterior tendinopathy. This is an inflammation of a tendon that runs under the foot and up the inside of the leg. I was told to reduce the volume and speed of running and start exercises on Friday if the pain was lower than a 3/10. That seemed manageable but later that day I had an e mail which said on further discussion she advised not running at all for two weeks. Fortunately because I have used her before I know she does not say this lightly. It had been after consulting with another colleague which was going above and beyond but even so this is not the news I wanted to hear. I am going to find this difficult but I do have a bike so I am going to try to develop a love for cycling. My next event is not until December so I do have some time but my family and colleagues might have a rocky few weeks ahead dealing with a non running me. Wish them luck coping.