This morning I had my appointment with the orthopedist. I think it went very well. I felt very comfortable with him, and he was very supportive of my running. He thinks that my injury is probably an early stress fracture rather than a sprain. He gave me a prescription for X-Rays and I have a follow-up appointment with him in another two weeks. He also did a gait analysis and told me that I have low arches and that I over-pronate a bit. He looked at my running shoes (I brought them with me in case he wanted to see them) and suggested a few different types that will give more motion control than what I currently have. He also gave me a prescription for those, to take to "Runner's Edge," the running store in Boca Raton. Finally, he gave me a stretchy band to use in conjunction with some stretching exercises, and he gave me a list and diagrams of the exercises to do. Since I'm relatively pain-free for the last day or so, he suggested that I try some cross-training so as not to lose all of my cardio progress. He suggested biking or using an elliptical. He also green-lit doing any weight training that doesn't cause pain to my leg.
So, the moral of this story is: I should have had the right shoes, properly fitted after gait-analysis, from the start. I know that that is pretty much the number one rule for new runners, but I ignored it at my peril because the shoes that I bought before I knew the rules seemed to be very comfortable. Comfort does not equal correct fit, as I've learned, and now I've paid the price. Fortunately, this is just a small bump in the road and I'm already well on the way to being healed. Still, the windmills of my mind keep turning as I think about how much farther along I could be if I had only done it right from the start.
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11 years ago
Good luck, Dan. Hope you're feeling better and back out on the road soon. Please keep us posted, and tell us as much detail as you can as to what the doctor advised -- such as exercises, shoe selections or other info. Thanks & feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteThe doctor did give me a list of some exercises - I'll scan them in and post them this evening. As for shoe selections, he mentioned the Brooks Beast, or New Balance "in the 1000's". At the running store they said the Beast is too orthotic for my needs - it's a heavier shoe, for large runners with serious problems. They said the Brooks Adrenaline would be more like what I would need. I wound up going with the New Balance, because it felt better and because it was one of the ones recommended by both the orthopedist and the running store clerk. I can't recall the model number.
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