Showing posts with label brace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brace. Show all posts

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Hoping for some plantar relief in the Futuro

The futuro is now
Today's run (treadmill): 3.3 miles
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3.3 miles

Earlier this week I was complaining to anyone in my office that would listen about my foot soreness due to plantar fasciitis. I am fortunate to work in a place that has many experts on health (along with other subjects) and one of them told me she got great results from something called the Futuro Night Plantar Fasciitis Sleep Support brace. The next day she brought it in so I could use it. Some people are really nice.

The brace seems designed to hold the foot in a way that prevents you from pointing your toes when you sleep. Apparently we all do that. Pointing toes aggravates the plantar fascia. That explains why every morning my heel feels like someone hammered a nail into it overnight. Unlike my "night sock" that yanks back my toes, the Futuro brace does its thing gently. I wore the brace extensively on Thursday night and on Friday (because I worked from home) and started feeling some relief.

I was encouraged by the improvement but felt concern that I'd undo my progress if I went for a run. I decided that it was worth chancing a relapse and did a treadmill workout on Friday morning. While I did feel a few pangs of soreness at different stages in the run, I experienced no residual pain. I've continued to wear the brace while in the house and it seems to be helping.

This morning I decided that 20° weather plus wind chill are not an appealing combination. Once again, I did my running on the treadmill. My current routine is to put on a music station and set my speed to a brisk but sustainable pace. No treadmill hating these days as I've learned to appreciate the more forgiving surface compared to pavement. Plus, did I mention the 20° plus wind chill outside?

I've often said that treadmill minutes seem twice as long as regular minutes. Today the time went by quickly. Instead of watching my time or mileage, I now run by songs. Roughly three per mile. Psychologically, it's a much better approach and probably why every runner but me listens to music when they run outdoors. I'm still not doing that.

My buddies SIOR and KWL have been tuning up for the Boston Marathon in April by running NYRR races the past two weekends. This weekend they're running the Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K up in Washington Heights and will be adding another 13 miles on top of that. With all those hills and a real feel temperature of 13°, it's going to be interesting. That is so beyond anything I'm prepared to do right now. I'll stick with the treadmill, a temperature controlled room and my borrowed brace.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

A detour on the path and a pain in the knee

Detour at mile 3
Today's run (Bethpage bike trail): 5.1 miles

I headed out to Bethpage this morning around 7:45 AM. It was a little later than I'd hoped to run, but I needed to stick around the house and help my son get ready for today's science fair. I didn't help with the actual project, that is so complicated and sciency that I can't understand anything in his research reports and display board except his name. My contribution was to help him tie his tie before he boarded the bus to Great Neck.

I don't have an Empire Passport this year so I didn't go to the park to start my run. I probably could have got in for free because the guy who works the entry booth sometimes lets me park without paying. He's a great guy and a really good judge of people. Instead, I parked on Colonial Road which is located about a mile north of the Bethpage lot.

My plan was to run north so that worked out fine. I usually start on the bike trail at Haypath and run to the LIE overpass on Washington Ave and back. That's just about five miles. Today I decided to get my five a different way with a detour up Old Country Road.

I did not get off to a good start. My legs felt heavy and my stride felt awkward. I really hoped it was something that would change as I warmed up. I loosened up eventually, but it took a couple of miles of running for that to happen. There were many runners out today, mainly groups. At one point I saw so many people running that I thought there was a race going on.

I turned around after two miles and ran south until I reached Old Country Road. I then ran west almost to Plainview Road and then back to the bike trail. I ended up covering my targeted five and got to see other sights off the beaten path. Actually the path on Old Country was pretty beaten. So much so, that I feared I'd trip on the many torn up slabs of concrete sidewalk.

Profound statement from CaptionBot
When I got back to my car I noticed some pain at the top of my knee. It only hurt when I put pressure on it or turned it when pushing up to stand. I looked up the symptoms online and they seem to match something people call patellofemoral pain. One site suggested ice, elevation and compression. I put on my ACE knee brace that got me through a meniscus tear without surgery many years ago.

I'm fortunate to work with experts in health and physiology and I plan to seek their advice tomorrow. I'm hoping that the brace and a couple of days rest will help in the meantime.
 

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