Trip to the Ortho + Foot Update

Hello and happy Tuesday! I made my way to the ortho yesterday to get my foot checked out. In case you missed the backstory, I went hiking back in July on a rock quarry trail at Morrow Mountain. The trail was slanted and I hiked for a mile… my foot was really sore by the end of it. I hate to admit that I was so dumb, especially with everything I went through with my knee, but I was wearing an old pair of non-supportive shoes and I’m pretty sure that’s what did it.

And then I wore wedges and danced intensely to Britney Spears shortly thereafter.

Over the past 2 months, the soreness has really not gone away. I have rested, iced, tried NSAIDs and even gotten some dry needling done. I will say the dry needling helped but ultimately it hasn’t improved much. After a trip to urgent care, I figured it was time to get it checked out.

New Doctor

I don’t think I’ve ever really talked about how much I loved the orthopedic surgeon who treated my knee. He was probably the best healthcare provider I have ever seen. He was kind, sat down and talked to me at eye level, explained everything to me in a simple way and spent a lot of time answering my questions. I really trusted his thoughts and recommendations.

So you can imagine my disappointment when I called to make an appointment with him and was told that he only sees knees and shoulders. Really disappointed. So I ended up making an appointment with a foot specialist in the same practice instead.

Appointment

So I went for my appt yesterday. Even though I had gotten a set of xrays at urgent care, they got a new set of me bearing weight on my feet. Apparently that’s the best way to check for stress fractures.

The Dr. took a look at my xrays, had me do a few standing exercises and then did a physical examination.

The Verdict

I felt really overwhelmed during the appointment and I don’t even know why. I wish I had written things down or had someone with me so I could have remembered the details of what the doctor said.

My issue is coming from my tibial tendon. There was a spot on the xray where the tendon has torn away from my bone (?). He also pointed out something on my accessory navicular bone on my xray… I don’t even remember what it was. There was a lot of inflammation going on in there, despite icing, modifying activities and taking prescription anti-inflamms.

Given that, he recommended immobilizing the foot for 4-6 weeks. I had the option of a hard cast or a boot. I went with the boot because it can be removed to drive, whereas I wouldn’t have been able to drive for over a month with the cast. The doctor made it really clear to me that I needed to be compliant with keeping my foot in the boot… I can see where it’s easy to let that slide. I definitely took it off a few times at home last night- woops.

I’m going to be pretty limited in my physical activity for the time being. No biking, No walking. Can’t even swim.  I went to the gym last night to do some arm weights and the whole thing just felt really lame. I’m going to go back to the ortho  in October for a follow-up to see how things are healing. If I’m still having issues then I’m going to get an MRI. Hopefully that won’t be necessary.

This Sounds Weird

I feel dumb for waiting 2 months to go to the doctor. I wonder if I would be in this boot if I had gone a month ago. But anyway, I actually felt really happy and relieved when the doctor told me he knew exactly what was wrong with my foot. I know that sounds bad. I spent so much time trying to figure out what was going on with my knee and it was so frustrating to constantly be told that they didn’t see anything wrong.

So I’m not glad that I’m injured but I’m glad to have answers.

I also thought my doctor was great and I’m really happy with the decision to see a foot specialist. It’s nice when they can just cut to the chase and tell you what’s going on.

The Next 4 Weeks

Obviously my spirits are kind of down about this. I love the fall weather and am dying to be out on my bike. It’s sad to have a new issue develop like this right when I was riding the high of my knee improving so much. Oh well. Such is life.

I am super limited in what I can do physically, but I am still going to go to the gym and work on arms and abs. I have some floor exercises to build quad strength so I will also keep those as well. I didn’t talk to the doctor about this but I think it will be okay in a week or two for me to swim with a pull buoy. He told me the issue with swimming was kicking and irritating that tendon, so I think I should be okay if I just let my foot float in the water and only use my arms. Right?

I hope this is the last orthopedic issue I ever chronicle here in my blog. And I’m seriously re-considering cancelling cable.