Hey everybody: I'm no doctor and I'm not offering medical advice!!
I started running consistently for the past month or two. For the last week, after longer runs, my lower legs were in increasing discomfort! Resting didn't reset how they felt, so maybe I was building the wrong kind of tissue, and headed toward an overuse injury? Yikes! I tried a flip-flop walk. (Not on purpose; I'm not that smart.) I noted lateral rotation in my left foot, and ended up with acute irritation on a lateral ligament. Yay, feedback!
Something I started with before running regularly: Overpronation in the right foot. For years I experienced knee pain in that same leg if running or hiking, and tension in that adductor if sedentary. When I lie down, my whole right leg externally rotates, so my right foot flops to the right about 15 degrees more than my left, with a bit more plantar flexion as well.* I assumed it was part of a hip issue, but for now I'll take this as a symptom of lower leg tension often accompanying overpronation, and see if I can make headway there. Reevaluation ftw!
Short-term goal: Rehab strained lateral ligament on left foot, relieve pain and get back to a stable gait.
Actions taken:
Long-term goal: Strengthen and stretch for healthier lower legs, and get back to running!
Actions taken:
* "Fifteen degrees?? Big deal!" you might say. I don't have clinical hip dysplasia. For those that do, may God's love and a great PT be with you.
I started running consistently for the past month or two. For the last week, after longer runs, my lower legs were in increasing discomfort! Resting didn't reset how they felt, so maybe I was building the wrong kind of tissue, and headed toward an overuse injury? Yikes! I tried a flip-flop walk. (Not on purpose; I'm not that smart.) I noted lateral rotation in my left foot, and ended up with acute irritation on a lateral ligament. Yay, feedback!
Something I started with before running regularly: Overpronation in the right foot. For years I experienced knee pain in that same leg if running or hiking, and tension in that adductor if sedentary. When I lie down, my whole right leg externally rotates, so my right foot flops to the right about 15 degrees more than my left, with a bit more plantar flexion as well.* I assumed it was part of a hip issue, but for now I'll take this as a symptom of lower leg tension often accompanying overpronation, and see if I can make headway there. Reevaluation ftw!
Short-term goal: Rehab strained lateral ligament on left foot, relieve pain and get back to a stable gait.
Actions taken:
- RICE! Rest, ice, compress, elevate
- Self-massage of sole with body weight and small glass bottle
- Self-massage of ankle with hands, elbows in sukhasana or var.
- Penny-pen exercise; press down on ball of foot, engage arch
- This exercise also helped me find that "arch" muscle group.
Long-term goal: Strengthen and stretch for healthier lower legs, and get back to running!
Actions taken:
- More self-massage!
- Uttanasana/Adhomuka svanasana focus: Soften knees, drive ball of the foot while engaging the arch (using penny-pen skill above). Keeping these layers, add flexion stretch to heels, and isometric lateral rotation to hips. So doing, I feel this stretch all through my legs, in my problem muscles, in subtle but deep ways which I hope will have a positive impact.
- This stuff feels weird in my knees, but I'll do it once in a while to check my progress.
I updated after one week. Check my progress.
Disclaimer: Everyone is different. I have a weird situation. (Don't we all!) My hips sit at different angles, my left leg is longer than my right. This is probably exactly like your body... but we still might have a lot in common. Bipedalism, for example!
