Remember when I sprained my ankle? Like, back in late August? Been a long time since then. About nine months, in fact. Things were getting better at one point. I had some Airrosti therapy appointments in November that helped, and my doc gave me some strengthening exercises to improve function even more. I changed shoes, which also helped. I still had occasional pain, and my foot grew stiff after I exercised, but I was healing. Until April.
Over the last couple months, I’ve developed pain in a different area of the foot, a spreading burning sensation radiating out from the underside of the outer ankle. The top of my foot was painful to the touch. When I exercised, I’d get so stiff and sore that I’d have to hobble around for days afterwards. If I instead rested it for several days, I’d start getting random shooting pains through it every time I put pressure on it (even just sitting it flat on the ground with no weight on it). I tried different physical therapy exercises, massages, ice, stretches, chiropractic, and more, but nothing worked. Six months after my last Airrosti visits, I went back in.
The news grew worse. My doc examined my foot/ankle. It was stable, and there was no extra scar tissue or kinking of the fascia to iron out. He worked on the entire leg all the way up to the hip and lower back, just in case the pain was referred (I do have extremely tight IT bands). There was a possibility, he said, that the pain in my foot was because the muscles there were overcompensating for something the leg was supposed to do. More likely, though, I had a tear in the ligament and needed an MRI. If there was a tear, I would likely need surgery or to at least be booted and immobile for 12 weeks. Sob.
He told me to ice my lower back on that side. My lower back didn’t hurt any, but I followed the instruction, and two days later, I woke up with my foot feeling fine and my lower back hurting. I had a massage scheduled that day, and my therapist said the muscles in my lower back were super tight. She did a release technique on them (extremely painful) but when she was done, neither foot nor back hurt. Suddenly, I had hope. Maybe it wasn’t a tear. Maybe my stupidly tight legs/hips/back were just causing my foot to overwork itself.
In the two weeks since then, I’ve been testing different exercises, and I’ve gone back to my Airrosti appointments. Some exercises do cause me to get sore/stiff, but with some new therapy exercises, that goes away after a day (yay!). During my second Airrosti appointment, my doc continued to work all the way up my leg/hip/back, then discharged me. If it flares up again in the future (hopefully not!!), I’ll go in for an MRI, but I’m hoping with the right strengthening, PT exercises, and massage, I can be fully healed soon!!
PS – An update also on the kidney stone issue: it passed, all is well, and the imagine doesn’t show other stones, so I’m in the clear for now at least!
