Wednesday, September 10, 2008

When All Else Fails, Impale Your Foot

Yesterday I indulged in some logic that goes like this: the bones and muscles in my foot aren't moving properly, so let's jab some needles in them until they do.

Worked pretty well.

I was back at OMNI Physical Therapy in Wallingford to let them get another look at the issue. Besides my bones/cartilage ache, which has been giving me problems, from the beginning they've been saying that my foot doesn't really move smoothly. It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm flat footed combined with the extensive mileage I've been dragging them through.

They've been manually loosening up my foot/ankle, but it's always a temporary fix, and after a run it gets caught up again.

So this time Dr. Richard Powers mentioned that he could do some acupuncture as an alternative treatment.

I tend to be a bit skeptical about such things, but on the other hand I'm ridiculously curious and willing to experiment.

He turned both of my feet into pin cushions and left them that way for 20 minutes. When he removed them, I have to say that my feet were moving better. I could flex my feet and feel them go through their full range of motion, as opposed to getting caught on bone and muscle as they had been.

Will it stay? No idea. I'll find out when I start running again this weekend.

2 comments:

Kay said...

Thanks for keeping a blog of your experiences - it's been so interesting to read, and I'm curious now to find out what happens with the marathon!
I was inspired to leave a comment today after reading your account of an accupuncture treatment.. chinese medicine has fascinated me for years, and I had kind of dismissed it lately as being redundant with a natural hygiene lifestyle. Now I'm rethinking that assumption, and that it might be helpful in certain situations.. interesting!
Speedy healing to you,

K

Andrew said...

Thanks for the support Kay. Yeah, the whole acupuncture thing was certainly different.