Opinions please

[Cali Girl]

I've not been running for about a month now I guess. The first 3 due to injury and this last week due to the tummy flu. I had done something to hurt my arch and also once again had done the stub and roll over the top thing to my big toe. I did the same thing last year to the same big toe and injured it pretty good. Enough so that it swelled and bruised all the way up the top of my foot. It was very painful and I've never quite resumed the whole range of motion. I was told by the dr I saw at the time that the injury I sustained was called sand toe.

Now that I have done it again I am noticing that my range of motion is even worse. I can only lift the toe about half as high as the big toe on my other foot. I have no pain, in my arch or my toe, and so am ready to head out and run again. This time I plan to do the Ease into 10k program.

When I started running last year I did so barefoot then wore VFF's this winter. I was back up to about half of my 3 mi distance being done bare, but now have not been running, bare or otherwise, for a month. I have done quite a bit of bare walking and yard work as is my norm. I really tend to not like shoes much at all. My worry is that since I can't seem to lift my toe as much that I am going to continue stubbing it, but the thought of always running in shoes, even VFF's, doesn't make me happy as I really enjoy running bare.

I'm really not sure how I should proceed and would like opinions before i start back up tomorrow.

Thanks!

 

[jschwab]

I don't know but I had the

I don't know but I had the same thoughts going through my head today. I don't have this problem indoors on the gym track which is where I've been doing all of my BF runs. Today was my first outdoor BF run, though. I did 2 miles (out of 5 total) BF and called it a day when I stubbed my second toe. I suddenly remembered I stubbed it all the time last year. If you don't have range of motion in your toe and you think you might hurt it again and it still needs healing, I might think of wearing VFF's or other minimalist shoes as a kind of "splint". Or you could do like I did today and carry shoes for when you need them if you start to feel like it might be an issue?

 

[Barefoot Joe]

Cali Girl, I would really

Cali Girl, I would really recommend doing daily balancing exercises to strengthen your feet and toes.

I've noticed that on mornings when I do balancing exercies by balancing with a soccer ball, I run much smoother than on days when I don't get a chance to.

I should also suggest to further strengthen your foot that you try standing on your toes for 10 seconds. And then, you should be able to walk on your toes for a bit too.

I hope this helps. That's what has helped me with transitioning to barefoot running, as I have taken my shoes off only recently.



- Joe

 

[mykroberts]

Not really sure being able to

Not really sure being able to lift your big toe should necessarily cause you to stub it. I feel like really bending the knees would be a better preventitive measure as your foot should be moving backwards at the moment of impact.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I'm not a PT, but I would

I'm not a PT, but I would think daily work exercising your toes and feet would help get some if not all of your range of motion back. What particular exercises, I do not know, probably a lot of bending, flexing, and pointing. But you should be definitely concentrating on those areas.

 

[Cali Girl]

Thanks all. I went out bare

Thanks all. I went out bare today and did great. I made sure to keep real slow and focus on bending my knees and lifting my toes so as not to scuff. I will just have to be sure and keep focusing on those things, I guess. I will also do as you all suggested and work on stretching and strengthening my feet and toes.

I was a bit achy in the arch and the injured toe but nothing severe so will jusy keep my eye on it and see how it goes.