Twirling on a Bone Spur

When I started this new job in San Francisco, I started walking a lot more.  I walk to BART (our subway/train system).  I walk to work.  I walk around work more than I did at my old job.  I walk to lunch.  I walk back to BART.  I walk home.  A few months before I started this new job, I hyper-extended my knee in a yoga class.  It was a little bit painful but I just kind of limped around and ignored it for awhile, then went to see Keith (you can read about how I connected the dots HERE).  Keith gave me some exercises and my knee pain went away but the foot pain was becoming increasingly worse.  After a partciularly painful weekend, which included a numb heel, I made an appointment with a podiatrist.

A lot of the advice he gave me was the same or similar to Keith's.  I had already picked up the shoe inserts (although he suggested a different brand than the ones I bought).  Stretches.  Rock tape for the arches of my feet.  The Strassberg sock (right, and all of this stuff costs money, you know, because I'm rolling in it these days).  Rolling my foot on a frozen water bottle.  But here's the kicker...no barefoot dancing.  What?!  THAT is how I dance!  This doctor basically said that I should have inserts in my freaking house slippers so that I have arch support from the minute I wake up.  I don't wear slippers!  I love to be barefoot! 

Also, I don't just have plantar fasciitis.  I have a bone spur in my heel.  It's pretty pointy and gnarly-looking on the x-ray.  I wish I had taken a picture.  He said he would actually call what I have plantar "fasciosis," because the plantar fascia essentially thickened around that bone spur.  He said the spur is probably something I've had for years and years. 

So, he tells me that getting back to the gym is good but no impact sports.  No running, no stairmaster, no squats or lunges, nothing that requires me to push weight through my heels.  Oh, well that leaves a lot for me to do.  I can do spin/cycling classes and yoga.  I can do water aerobics.  I can still do Twirly Girls (with a taped foot), but I have to be careful about stomping my foot down.  That probably means that Afro-Haitian dance, which is a lot of stomping, is out of the question for awhile.  But my dream of doing Half Dome again (hahah...not really, that hike almost killed me) is dead.  For now at least. 

I did go to Disneyland over the weekend and we walked A LOT.  I taped up my foot really well, put the inserts into my shoes and wore my good aerobic shoes.  I was in a lot less pain than I expected to be.  So, I am hoping with just a little bit of work, I can keep the pain under control.

I joined a brand new 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport that opened near my house.  I had hoped to get back into the swing of the early morning workouts but they changed the schedule and now their cycle classes start too late for me.  So, my plan is to get in there on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for cycle then yoga.  It will make for a long night, but I guess the alternative is sitting in front of the TV eating food.  It also means that I now have things to do after work Monday through Thursday.  I'm tired just thinking of this schedule but I need to make some changes soon or my weight isn't going to change and my pain isn't going to get any better.

Wish me luck!