Ok, I found out that my Physical Therapist’s office is no longer a “preferred provider” for my insurance. I did find out that my insurance will still pay some, and I really like my Therapist. So, I decided to continue with them. Today, I was not disappointed!

I dutifully rode my bike to the Physical Therapist’s office (more on this later), and he asked me what I had been doing. I reminded him that I had a blog that laid it all out (which came in handy for dates and such :-)), but I supposed I could tell him anyway. When I got to the part about the 2 mile run, he winced. Then, he said that I had definitely jumped in too fast. I should have been running about 5 minutes at a time – oops.

However, the conversation got really interesting – to me – at that point. He mentioned that he had been doing some research into barefoot running, and he had found a paper documenting how good it is. He also said that he had read a lot of papers that supported orthotic therapy. So, it would be up to whether or not my left foot could acclimate. (Go left foot, GO!)

He then said he couldn’t remember how my feet looked – I promptly reminded him that if he had read my blog he would have seen them. Anyway, we discussed how since I have arches, he could give me some exercises that would strengthen the arch and the other muscles in the foot. He observed that the muscles in my right foot were much better developed than my left foot. It was very gratifying to have him validate my observations on my left foot (the ones where I said I thought it was not as storng as my right foot).

Anyway, here is the plan:

Step 1: Get the inflammation down. He is going to do some ASTYM treatment to stimulate healing in the posterior tibial tendon.

Step 2: Strengthen the left foot and ankle through specific exercises.

Step 3: Develop a plan for getting me safely started on running barefoot.

He said this could take as long as one year. Whew! Well, that’s what I read on the Vibramâ„¢ website. So, I’m not too surprised.

My take away program for the weekend:

1. Ice left foot 15 minutes once each day regardless of whether there is pain or not.

2. Stretch IT bands by leaning and extrending hip 3 times one minute each time both sides everyday.

3. Stretch IT bands using a foam roller on each leg for one minute each.

So, today I have done the foam roller. I still need to do #1 and #2.

It sounds like we are in for a tedious dry spell. I’ll see what I can dig up for fun in the mean time 🙂