In the Dr office waiting for X-ray

rik

Barefooters
Apr 11, 2011
138
152
43
Utah
The injury bug got me after 5 years of injury free running, I have had a pain in the top of my foot in the metatarsal area. I am intrested to see what the MD. Says. Has anyone had this experience ?
 
What happened, Rik? What did the x-rays show?
 
Nothing, broken just some stressed out metatarsals. It was a podiatrist that I saw. I have had a small pain 1-2 of 1-10 pain scale at the top of my arch on the out side of my foot. So as a runner what do we do, lets run a race ! A 5k at my work and of course I wanted to show my fellow runners and employees, he benefits of bf running, so pushed it as hard as I was able. It was my fastest time it was 3.21 miles a little over a 5k. It was a personal best so I was excited about that. Not bad for a puggy guy 5 9 and 195 lb 24:25. I hope to lose 20 lb and see if I can break the 22 or 23 mark. I felt great and I had to much of a kick at the end. In case I had a challenge at the finish. I rested for 5 min and hopped up on the massage table for my post run recovery. And after the massage I could barley walk with pain in the top of my foot in the arch. I faked the limp until that next day and decided to see the Dr. I thought he was a family practicing doctor, nope he was a podiatrist, I found out in his office. I had a race shirt on and the nurse asked me if I was a runner. I got the full diagnosis and x ray, after I got the low down from the doc. I then told him I run barefoot. He was a runner as well. We talked about barefoot he thought like everyone else that it meant I ran with vibram toe shoes. I quickly corrected him and just like all the other thousand people I have corrected I found my self lecturing him about the nomenclature and semantics fo barefoot running. We covered Born to Run and bare foot shoes ? I lectured him just like we lecture our neophyte friends. He looked like he listened and make all the right head nods. He asked me to take off my shoes. Altra Olympus, so I did so he then put orthotics in my shoe to support the area where the bone was stressed as he showed me. I said thanks and he left the room. The nurse came in and said that will be 50.00 dollars. I quickly pulled the sport orthotics out and left them at the doctors office. That was his answer after I told him all the benefits. He then told me I could start running tomorrow with shoes, so we are even he did not listen to me and I did not listen to him. We were in the same small doctors office and were worlds apart. I am in Africa where they understand the human foot out of necessity, he on the other hand was in Las Vegas, metaphorically of course. 1 week today and I have been limping around and some cross training. I am to sore to run, as the Dr. recommended. I just started doing my stretches tonight and foot grabs with balls and flexing and it has never felt better. I will stay away from running for a week or two after all the pain. I guess the docotors are just like the rest of us still practicing things. I wounder how much kick back he gets for selling me orthotics. The stretching and strengthening was not ever mentioned in my visit as an alternative.
Thanks for listening, I would love to hear others experience with the Dr. visit
 
The one thing I would say is that maybe for a few days, immobilizing or not using it as much might help? Might not, but you never know.
When my feet get tired and overworked, I wear my minimal NB trainers ("minimus") for a while. Flat and ostensibly "minimal," they are still toe covering sneakers that change my gait and give my mets a rest for a few days. My version of medical devices. When I've rested enough, I start going about my usual sandals and bf.
If you didn't stress anything too much, resting, icing, whatever, the plan to lay off for a week, may be enough.
 
Had much the same symptoms about a year ago rik. Did the x-ray thin but they came back O.K.
My doc is great, he really supports my barefootedness, he was a runner himself in the day and believes in treating the whole person not just offending areas.
I suppose the difference in the health service here in the U.K. is that it's a free for the most part so the transaction between patient and doctor is not financially motivated.
A year on and i still get twinges on the outside of my foot, but nothing to stop me running, more a warning to back off a bit when i'm over doing things.
One thing i've learned to understand is that the body will always find a way to regulate itself and stop you in your tracks when it needs some down time to regenerate.
 
An ideal situation would be to find a clinician who has learned about barefooted living/running to a clinical level. The problem is that most clinicians don't know much about barefooted living because it isn't covered in their training. I have doctors and PAs who come to me for advise on running or are in genuine awe of what I am doing. Clinicians aren't helpful out of their knowledge base, and spare a few who have incorporated it into their knowledge base (mostly doctors who run barefoot themselves), most just don't understand the dynamic of living barefoot.
 
That's why we created the Map of Barefoot-Friendly Doctors & Specialists (in both the Health forum and Ask the Docs). Someone copy the link here for me, since I am poolside and on a cumbersome iPad. ;-)