Hi everyone!
Well, the first thing you should know about me is that I'm an incredible wimp. So when I got some nagging pain in the joint of my toe, I started freaking out right away. But I do that about every little thing, so I didn't actually think it was serious. I'm only 26, and pretty active - I exercise at least 4-5 times a week, doing anything from 20-minute mini-workouts to long runs, hikes, bikerides, and serious cross-country skiing in the winter. My experience with injuries so far has been like this: go to physiotherapist, get assigned exercises, do them, watch the injury slowly get better. So now that my toe hurt not even while running, but while walking too, I decided to see a podiatrist (foot doctor) for some exercises.
He said that I have toe arthritis caused by bone misalignment (the bone that runs inside the foot is higher than the first toe joint where they connect, which causes jamming during toe-off). He said that it will not get better, that there are no exercises I can do to fix it, and that the only solution is to take antiinflammatory drugs and buy rocker-bottom shoes, but it is a "progressive condition" that will eventually get worse over time and might even require surgery down the road.
This gave me a huge shock - being a total wimp, I'm absolutely terrified of surgery, but I'm also scared that this might be the end of my active lifestyle. I know there are other people who are way worse off, who have cancer and all kinds of horrible things, and here I am freaking out about a toe. But... moving in the outdoors makes me happy... nothing else gives that much meaning to my life. Without exercise and fresh air, I feel permanently half-asleep. Toe-off action is a huge part of xc skiing (my favourite sport), and running in rocker-bottom shoes doesn't sound too viable. I suppose I could still cycle, although I don't even have a good bike right now. I feel so discouraged - I'm way too young to get arthritis, and I've been putting so much effort into my health, with this kind of returns
I was wondering if you might have good advice, or something that could help me snap out of this anxiety... thanks, friends
Well, the first thing you should know about me is that I'm an incredible wimp. So when I got some nagging pain in the joint of my toe, I started freaking out right away. But I do that about every little thing, so I didn't actually think it was serious. I'm only 26, and pretty active - I exercise at least 4-5 times a week, doing anything from 20-minute mini-workouts to long runs, hikes, bikerides, and serious cross-country skiing in the winter. My experience with injuries so far has been like this: go to physiotherapist, get assigned exercises, do them, watch the injury slowly get better. So now that my toe hurt not even while running, but while walking too, I decided to see a podiatrist (foot doctor) for some exercises.
He said that I have toe arthritis caused by bone misalignment (the bone that runs inside the foot is higher than the first toe joint where they connect, which causes jamming during toe-off). He said that it will not get better, that there are no exercises I can do to fix it, and that the only solution is to take antiinflammatory drugs and buy rocker-bottom shoes, but it is a "progressive condition" that will eventually get worse over time and might even require surgery down the road.
This gave me a huge shock - being a total wimp, I'm absolutely terrified of surgery, but I'm also scared that this might be the end of my active lifestyle. I know there are other people who are way worse off, who have cancer and all kinds of horrible things, and here I am freaking out about a toe. But... moving in the outdoors makes me happy... nothing else gives that much meaning to my life. Without exercise and fresh air, I feel permanently half-asleep. Toe-off action is a huge part of xc skiing (my favourite sport), and running in rocker-bottom shoes doesn't sound too viable. I suppose I could still cycle, although I don't even have a good bike right now. I feel so discouraged - I'm way too young to get arthritis, and I've been putting so much effort into my health, with this kind of returns
I was wondering if you might have good advice, or something that could help me snap out of this anxiety... thanks, friends