Bad Feet!

[Locche]

Hello. I am an ancient 41 years old and have started training about 6 weeks ago after doing Karate for the best part of 20 years. I've always wanted to have a go at boxing, and love the training.

Initially I was a bit worried about shoulder and back problems, but they seem to have actually improved with training. I was however taken by surprise recently by my feet FUBARing all of a sudden. It's probably my own fault but I was wearing less than good shoes, and started jogging on grass. Only about a mile, but I'm not used to it. I have been jogging a couple of times a week since I started. I guess the first time was about a KM, then working up to about a mile (1.6 KM?).

Anyway I've had to take the last two weeks off due to my feet suddenly really hurting, couldn't walk properly, they are improving slowly with rest. The heels hurt, the arches hurt, and the ankles. I am going as soon as they're better to a proper running shop to invest in some proper running shoes after evaluation.

I was just wondering if any of you have encountered similar problems when starting your roadwork? If you can remember back that far? Is it simply a matter of getting your feet slowly accustomed to the jogging? Also, what did you do about it if you did get problems?

It's really got me down actually because I've gone from progressing quite nicely (for a 41 year old) to being a semi cripple over the last couple of weeks. I would really like to get to the stage where I can do my roadwork, but I don't want to go through this again and have to lay off again.

Doctor said "swelling" and "internal bruising" and advised me to use ice and rest + stretching exercises, for the record. No definite diagnosis was made.

[rampant]

Originally Posted by Locche

Hello. I am an ancient 41 years old and have started training about 6 weeks ago after doing Karate for the best part of 20 years. I've always wanted to have a go at boxing, and love the training.

Initially I was a bit worried about shoulder and back problems, but they seem to have actually improved with training. I was however taken by surprise recently by my feet FUBARing all of a sudden. It's probably my own fault but I was wearing less than good shoes, and started jogging on grass. Only about a mile, but I'm not used to it. I have been jogging a couple of times a week since I started. I guess the first time was about a KM, then working up to about a mile (1.6 KM?).

Anyway I've had to take the last two weeks off due to my feet suddenly really hurting, couldn't walk properly, they are improving slowly with rest. The heels hurt, the arches hurt, and the ankles. I am going as soon as they're better to a proper running shop to invest in some proper running shoes after evaluation.

I was just wondering if any of you have encountered similar problems when starting your roadwork? If you can remember back that far? Is it simply a matter of getting your feet slowly accustomed to the jogging? Also, what did you do about it if you did get problems?

It's really got me down actually because I've gone from progressing quite nicely (for a 41 year old) to being a semi cripple over the last couple of weeks. I would really like to get to the stage where I can do my roadwork, but I don't want to go through this again and have to lay off again.

Doctor said "swelling" and "internal bruising" and advised me to use ice and rest + stretching exercises, for the record. No definite diagnosis was made.

I would probably put that down to poor footwear more than anything, I'm 40 and as you know hurting a bit takes longer to recover from, If you get some decent footwear and go again im sure you will be fine.

Could be how your running but I doubt it, heel to toe unless you are sprinting and relax.

Good Luck let us know how you get on.

[Journeyman]

get chinese foot massages

[elfag]

You could go to a physical therapist. I had knee pain a few years ago and went to a place that specialized in knee issues, the doctor took xrays to check ligaments which were good, then watched me walk in my running shoes and could tell from the tracking that I had muscle tightness, muscle imbalance and cheap shoes with not enough support, sent me to the physical therapist, they taught me the proper stretches to correct my tightness and some exercises to strengthen my hamstrings.

My hamstrings were very tight and weak compared to my quads. That was from doing leg presses, doing nothing for my hamstrings and running in cheap shoes without stretching enough.

It sounds like there is nothing permanently wrong with you but something funky is going on. The good news is they should be able to figure out what is wrong. The doctor and physical therapist in my case literally squatted down on the ground so they were eye level with my knees and watched me walk back and forth and could tell from that my knees were tracking wrong. If you go to a regular general practitioner doctor, he can probably tell you nothing is permanently wrong which is good but you need more information.

Go try to find a knee doctor, physical therapist or sports doctor.

[hova]

Dont Know ! But sounds like you may be flat footed. You can buy arch supports that fit into your shoes. May help !

[Locche]

Thanks for the replies, it's encouraging to think that it isn't anything permanent.
It's a shame really because I was doing a light jog with my trainer just before my interval rounds training on the bag and pads and so on and I found that just like an old car, I perfomed much better with that warm up . Without the jog I find I get gassed easier in the interval training.

Things have cleared up now with some ice and rest to the point where I can walk almost normally - I got to get it to the stage where I can go on the treadmill for a short while for them to evaluate me in the running shop for some shoes. Then I can start wearing those and see whether it clears it up even more. I reckon something with heel and arch supports, extra padded and tailored to whatever pronation/gait problems I may have would hopefully improve things a bit.

I think if the problem persists after that, I will do what you're recommending el*** and go to a specialist of some sort. My Osteopath indicated that she thought the tops of my feet were quite stiff and gave me some exercises. Perhaps I've been compensating for that stiffness when jogging and it affected my gait. Perhaps coming down too stiff-legged or something.

Could I ask you in the meantime what light aerobic exercise I could do that doesn't involve the feet and warms me up gently in the same way? I don't have access to a bike or exercise bike unfortunately. Is there anything I can do?

[Jamesv3]

Originally Posted by el***

You could go to a physical therapist. I had knee pain a few years ago and went to a place that specialized in knee issues, the doctor took xrays to check ligaments which were good, then watched me walk in my running shoes and could tell from the tracking that I had muscle tightness, muscle imbalance and cheap shoes with not enough support, sent me to the physical therapist, they taught me the proper stretches to correct my tightness and some exercises to strengthen my hamstrings.

My hamstrings were very tight and weak compared to my quads. That was from doing leg presses, doing nothing for my hamstrings and running in cheap shoes without stretching enough.

It sounds like there is nothing permanently wrong with you but something funky is going on. The good news is they should be able to figure out what is wrong. The doctor and physical therapist in my case literally squatted down on the ground so they were eye level with my knees and watched me walk back and forth and could tell from that my knees were tracking wrong. If you go to a regular general practitioner doctor, he can probably tell you nothing is permanently wrong which is good but you need more information.

Go try to find a knee doctor, physical therapist or sports doctor.

I have that problem my quads are very strong but I suffer with the hams what strenghining exercises did you do and what stretches ? Cheers

[elfag]

Originally Posted by Jamesv3

I have that problem my quads are very strong but I suffer with the hams what strenghining exercises did you do and what stretches ? Cheers

I had tight illodial bands as well, which is called illodial band syndrome or runners knee. They run along the sides of the legs and also contributed to my knees not tracking properly.

I did these:
http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-t...-band-syndrome

I think the first one there they had me do some kind of complicated variation with me lying on my stomach but it looks like the same thing.

This is an alternate way to do the second stretch above:
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/itband.html

I did hamstring stretches and exercises which are pretty common like those below:






I stopped doing leg presses for a while and they had me do leg extensions, which is a quad exercise right, but only the last 10 or so degrees with light weights, going no further down than the picture of this guy below. They told me that the leg muscles used during that last ten degrees before full extension are also used to help keep the knee in place and doing that exercise could strengthen those muscles to help it track better.



Warm up first before you do them. Also now days I only do light stretching after a warmup before a run and then do longer stretching at the end of the run. Thats the way they did it in bootcamp too and it seemed to work well. I try not to run on concrete/sidewalks. I didnt realize how much softer asphalt is than concrete sidewalks before but its way easier on my shins.

[Jamesv3]

Cheers for the info

[Locche]

Sorry to ressurect this thread but just wanted to say thanks for the replies. I went to a proper running shop, and after trying on Asics, Brooks, and Mizuno I actually went with the Mizuno wave inspire 8's because they had the best fit and feel. The shop was very attentive and helpful. I also bought some custom inserts for them moulded to my feet just to throw everything and the kitchen sink at it. I have high arches and one foot is particularly high (apparently).

After putting ice on my feet and buying these, I'm almost back to normal! I've only been for tiny jogs so far, but it feels much better. I guess what I'm looking at is I've always been stupid with my shoes and feet and never really payed them enough attention or invested in particularly good shoes. This seems to have highlighted that.

I went for some training the other day and felt much more confident and my guy said he thought my footwork was improving, and I was wearing the Mizuno's - just goes to show!