Monday, November 14, 2011

Sports Doctor Visit

So last week I had my first ever visit to a sports medicine doctor. Up
until the day of, I debated whether to go or not. I hurt my left foot a
few days before the Detroit Half rested for the race and it flared up
immediately after I crossed the finish line. The pain was bad enough to
cause me to limp. Any weight on it and I would get a shooting pain on the
outside of my foot just in front of the heel and towards my little toe.
But now it had been 4 weeks and all was pretty much back to normal. I
decided to go anyway and I'm kind of glad I did. It was an overall
positive experience.
Before even seeing the dr, I was sent to radiology to get some X-rays
taken of my foot. Afterwards, I returned to explain my story with the
nurse. She let me know that the Dr had a student with her today and that
the student would come in first. She came in shortly after and asked some
questions about the pain and the moved the foot around to see if it hurt
from any of the movements. I almost wished it did hurt, so she would have
something to work with. I mentioned how I noticed my shoe wear patterns
show me suplinating. The shoes are gait-correcting for over-pronating,
but I've worn these shoes for 200 miles. With that info, she was off to
get the Dr.

While the student didn't quite know what to do about an injury that no
longer has any pain, the Dr. wasn't perplexed by it. She asked questions to get a feel of my running history and jotted down my tentative race schedule for the next year. The X-rays returned
with no signs of a fracture, so she went through a myriad to flexing and
palpating (learned a new word) my feet form ankle, down. It was neat to
have the student in the room, because every little movement or procedure
the dr did, she explained to her student what, how and why. It was a
great learning experience.
It was determined that my dorisflexion (new word #2) was not to potential.
It can lead to knee injury (I did get some bad runner's knee after the
race). She confirmed by the callouses on my feet that I was indeed suplinating, which definitely could cause pain to the outside of my foot.
I was ordered PT to improve my dorisflexion and a gait analysis. I'll have to determine time and cost to see if I'll go though with it. I'm definitely not in a position for custom orthodics, but I am in the market for new shoes.linating, which would be a major cause of pain on the outside of my
foot.
I was given a Rx to receive PT to improve my dorisflexion and to receive a
gait analysis.

3 comments:

  1. Take your current shoes to Hansons they'll look at the running pattern and fit you for a better pair

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  2. Thanks, lostnnarnia. I've done it in the past hence me having motion control shoes. I think since I lost weight, I don't pronate as much. The gait analysis my dr wrote me up for is pretty intense. They use reflector sensors and several cameras. It takes two sessions. I'm not sure if I'll do it it all depends on money, plus its an hour drive.

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