Hypermobility Rehabilitation: 2011

It was Thursday, March the 30th, 2006 when I started feeling pain in the medial arch of my right foot while running. I did not want to stop, I even went to the aerobics class I'd planned to attend after the run not giving the pain much thought. Two days later I go for my planned run, the pain returns, so I just decide to kind of tip-toe run through it still. I was very stupid and stubborn, my 'Return to sports' plans have been getting postponed one time after the other for the most bizarre reasons, and I decided I just won't let it happen again! Forgot to mention I'm a Taurus of course (Read: Insanely Stubborn). I went to work afterwrds, went out with my friends after work, and get out of the outing to rush to the emergency in a near-by hospital because I got really scared of the intensity of the pain.

I had an X-ray, the doctor said it was nothing, I'd better not run for a week or two and it'll just go away, no need to stay off my feet or anything (though it didn't feel like it). I blindly listened to the advice and went on with my life (Back then I used to trust that people in white coats knew what they're doing, luckily that belief dissolved over the years and I started listening to my body more). I rested for a few days because I got a cold as well, and when I got better I started working on a new project, in a client premises in the 16th floor, in which we had to keep going between floors every once in a while, and occasionally go down on foot when elevators just wouldn't come up!!! :)

A new episode of my life started, when I would rest for a while till the pain subsided, then would return to full activity as soon as it does, then the pain would return. I'd see some doctor once in a while who'd tell me my feet are perfectly fine and he can't see any reason why I should be in pain or stop any activities, with a special seasoning of it being all in my head. With the desire I had for activity, the confinement I was in during the time of extreme pain and the eagerness to move coupled with the doctors' assurance there is nothing wrong with me, that always added up to a disastrous form of return to activity; Running, Tai Chi Classes, Salsa Classes, long walks, shopping, all in the normal amounts I knew I could do previously, but my body could not accept it anymore, and I did not accept my body's lack of acceptance to do what I wanted, so long as the doctors assured me "I'm fine"!!! In a few months, the pain was covering the whole plantar aspect of the foot, after it was just the medial part. By September my left foot started hurting due to trying to rest the right one by loading the left instead...

Around August or September I got the 1st 'official' statement of what could be wrong with me, I was told I had 'Plantar Fasciitis'. I started searching online and found out that with that 'Fasciitis' I should be careful with even standing and walking, not just running, and how any non-careful increase in activity could cause a recurrence. No wonder I was causing a re-injury every time I felt better!!! If only one of those guys had given me a name; but for the 1st 6 months I got nothing.

The 2nd episode started when we started trying to figure out how to cure that fasciitis, with many many many physiotherapy sessions that didn't do much; always starting with a promise it'll go away after 6 or 12 sessions, then 40-50 sessions later, I can't see it. The only way the pain would be managed was with extreme measures of rest, restricting any kind of walking I had to do and avoiding standing as much as I could. At some point I just wished I could go into a coma and not have to move at all so this thing could go away and I can get back to doing the things I love, or at least, just live normally. During that time I kept seeing doctors to see why I'm just not getting healed. One doc would tell me I have flat feet, and it's "normal" I'd have trouble because of that (Not proposing the idea there's something called shoe inserts/insoles that could offer some relief), the 2nd would tell me that's not really true and I have a very obvious arch, and a 3rd would tell me I have 'mobile' flat feet, and that's when I started hearing about my hypermobility and how it could be hindering my PF healing... One of these doctors mentioned I should get some 'gel' inserts, was the 1st time for me to hear there's such a thing as an insert or an arch support or any of these things. Unfortunately the gel inserts were a disaster for me. I felt like I was walking on jellow, and the feeling of being unstable while walking was clear to me for the 1st time as I started experiencing pain in lower leg bones that never hurt before. I got kinda scared of insoles and did not attempt trying other ones for a long time afterwards unfortunately. That episode of physiotherapy without result, depression, resting to extreme measures lasted for about two years.

At some point along the 3rd year I started making some nice discoveries; 1) A chiropractor who worked on my ankle and foot. I used to feel that things are 'tangled up' in there beyond my understanding, and he seemed to get things back in place. That offered some relief. 2) Shoe inserts that 'somewhat' worked; there was that doctor who made custom inserts that provided some relief, still they were less than ideal as they depended on a 2D scan, not 3D. 3)Finding some off-the-shelf insoles in a pharmacy (not exactly that common in Egypt), and starting to alternate them with the doc-provided ones. A pair would offer some relief for the medial arch but the lateral part would hurt, and the other pair rest the lateral arch but not the medial, and so on... 4) The best discovery was a physiotherapist who did some manual techniques, on the thickened and hurting fascia and for the 1st time I started to feel a difference in physio... I guess it took a whole year working on the fascia to bring it close to normal, with a few setbacks. The common thing among all doctors and physiotherapists, even the ones who knew what they were doing was that they underestimated what it'd take to cause a re-injury or a set-back. Probably the things that causesd me setbacks should've been fine for a non-hypermobile person, but with me, things were waaay more sensitive than expected by anyone!

I've been crazy about sports all my life, mainly swimming (5 years training, 4th position in the last national competition I was in) and running (2 years training, a couple of competitions, but nothing serious). I went out of the competitive swimming early during my teen years because of how demanding it was, having to go to training 12 times a week! Not to mention an evil coach who spoilt the atmosphere for everyone, and wanting not to have wet hair all the time as a kind of change :) I got out and tried to find another sport that's not as demanding and that I'd get myself to like; Tennis, Volley and badminton didn't do it for me (I realized I hated all balls of all sizes), and then I found athletics... My absolute favorite was long-distance running (3K - 5K). At some point after two years I just stopped. I guess I didn't have the 'compete against others' bone in me, yet I loved beating my personal best, which I could do on my own without coaches nagging. I didn't think about it that much back then, but I used to sprain my ankle A LOT, and get pain in the knees, in addition to fatigue and very frequent colds which all didn't give me time to do much progress. I come to think about it now and realize these were the early results of hypermobility. Luckily my body's healing back then was much better than it is now, and nothing serious or long-term occured back then.
My aim when I quit these two sports that I'll just quit the 'competitive' form of the sport, yet I'll do my own training on my own. I couldn't stick to those resolutions unfortunately, with other priorities kicking in; mainly educational, until I graduated in college in 2005 and thought it's about time to take my sports resolutions seriously.

Hypermobility Rehabilitation

Friday, September 2, 2011

Inury #1

For the Love of Sports

Welcome to My New Blog