Foot Self-Care

 

Did you know your foot has 26 bones, 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments? Feet are wonderful appendages, and they keep us going where we want to go. The big toe has magical properties that keep our bodies balanced when we walk, stand or run. Every small part of the foot is kind of a miracle, as far as I can figure, and it's up to us to be kind to our feet.

As we get older, our whole bodies sag. This is true, don't try to deny it. When I look at my little grandson, I marvel at his elastic, ecstatic skin, and his ability to move in all sorts of ways that become more difficult the older we get. I look at the skin of my daughters-in-love and I marvel at their smooth, unblemished skin and their white sclera (my eyes got yellowish because I love the sun and didn't ever wear sunglasses).

Our feet don't really sag ... well actually they do a little bit. They get wider, and our arches may get a little lower and closer to the earth. Sometimes our toes start to spread in intriguing ways. But I'm all about accepting the peculiar shapes of the older female body, and my mission is to figure out how to keep my body running smoothly while I'm still situated in it.

So, one thing I like to do is to offer my feet some regular love. I'm pretty hard on the old gals: I am on my feet all day (9-4) at my cafe, then I like to run as long and as often as I can. This all leads to my fascia getting a little stretchy and sore, my feet getting calluses, and those 26 bones feeling a little sore, especially after a long run on snow and ice.

What to do?

Examine your feet.  👣What do you not like about them? Some things you can fix, and others you have to accept (are feet like life?). 

Foot issues you can fix at home: 

•  👣dry or ravaged skin around the ball of your foot, heel or anywhere
•  👣bunions
•  👣fascia issues

Foot issues that may need professional help:

•  👣chronic Plantars fasciitis: go to the doctor and get this condition properly diagnosed. 
•  👣chronic Athlete's foot: prescription meds may be the answer
•  👣pain that doesn't go away: all sorts of issues can give you pain that doesn't seem to pass, including over-training, badly-fitted shoes, osteoporosis, and other conditions. So if you have pain that isn't reacting to any of your home treatments, get it checked out.

For dry or cracked skin, I love to give my feet a home spa treatment. Fill a basin with very hot water and your favourite oil. Then watch your favourite show, read a book, knit, or daydream. When the water is cold, carefully dry your feet. Now you can start doing the less fun job of scraping off the old skin, cutting your nails, and rubbing down calluses with a pumice stone. Paint your nails if you want! 

Every so often, I'll give my feet a foot mask. And I also like to remember to moisturize my feet before bed (but I usually forget 😂).

Bunions sound weird and they are usually a side-effect of ageing. It's when your big toe joint moves away from the rest of your foot, and makes your big toe turn in to crowd out the other toes. It can be painful, especially after a long run. I got some toe spacers - these are excellent but you have to be disciplined and use them regularly. Start off ten minutes a day when you're relaxing, then move to wearing them when working out. You will find that your bunions shrink, and they're also good for fasciitis and increasing foot strength.

The fascia is a gooey/ membraneous material that surrounds most of our muscles, organs and inner bits and pieces. Sometimes, the fascia surrounding our feet and holding the many bones, tendons, ligaments and muscles in place becomes irritated and painful. If you have a look at this website  you will see another explanation of the fascia: that it isn't a membrane that holds everything together, but it's actually the basic material of the body from which muscles, organs and all the soft squishy parts of our bodies spring. Whatever the case, if you have a pain in your foot, you can try toe spacers, massage, rest, and also rubbing the sole of your foot with a tennis ball or (better) one of these things: 

no it's not a Covid molecule. 

These are spiky rubber balls that you can give your feet a lovely massage with, or just put it on the floor and rub your feet back and forth when your sitting.

Love your feet! You don't have to spend a lot of money on them, but remember that they do need care, and that usually problems can be resolved if you catch them quickly and spend time on them. Rest is so important! So is moisture! Be kind to those funny appendages that help you run, walk, stand and keep balanced. 

♡∫

A Cautionary Tale

I'm starting another Gratitude Alphabet. I first did one back in 2014, after my mother died. I think now is the time for another one: this past year has been foggy and strange for everyone, and sometimes we need to remind ourselves we are grateful.

I'm starting this alphabet with A for A Cautionary Tale.

In January 2020, I decided to start a run streak. That means that I would run at least a mile every single day. I ended up running a total of 1,111 miles during that year, and it was good. It helped me get out of the house; it gave me my much-needed solitude - living with a houseful of related males was fun and sometimes too much; it kept me fit.

In January 2021, I realized that my foot hurt pretty badly. And my muscles were cramping all the time: something was up! I am lucky - I have a family doctor, so I called her up and she sent me for an x-ray of my foot.

The day after the x-ray, I got a scary call. Severe Osteoporosis! No running, huge amounts of calcium and vitamin D, and a bone scan. I also added in some magnesium as I knew that the balance of calcium and magnesium needed to be maintained. My muscle cramps disappeared. My foot continued to hurt. I spent February sitting on the couch in the evenings having a drink (never more than one). Exercise wasn't happening. Oh, yea, I did the Plank Challenge. I can plank for two minutes. 

Bone scan happened. Three weeks passed! That's several different cocktail recipes. I wondered if I would ever be able to run again. Foot hurt. I got a fancy gizmo to wear on my toes. I was still on my feet every day working at my cafe.

March. My doctor calls me and says Oooops, weird. No osteoporosis, in fact my risk level is very very very low. I didn't bother asking why they said at first that I had the severe osteoporosis. Maybe because I'm 64, or who knows. Anyway, I don't have it so that's great! I started running again, short runs. I still want to do a 50k for my 65th birthday. But ... I am running very, very slowly. I feel weird when I run. Sluggish. I wonder if I have Covid. I can't seem to make my muscles move properly, but I'm not tired. Just "sluggish".

I kept running and decided it's the price you have to pay for taking an injury break. My running group leader said that it's the price I have to pay for doing a running streak. I'm just not convinced. Everyone's telling me different things, but none of it really adds up to how I'm actually feeling.

I teach a doula course. One of the main values that guides my practice, as a birth companion and as a teacher, is that we really only have our senses to guide us in this practice. One of our most valuable senses is the sense of intuition. I was chatting with one of my students about her main project, and she randomly mentioned that she takes magnesium at night after a stressful day: it helps her muscles relax and helps her sleep.

The next day, I stopped taking magnesium. A few days after that, I went for a run. I felt so different! I was back to my normal self! Yes, I'm not a fast runner, but I'm surely not a tortoise. I was literally poisoning myself with magnesium because of a suggestion that my doctor had made, on the basis of a false diagnosis!

My advice to you: 

• Know your body. If it feels weird, then it is weird. Something's wrong. If someone tells you something is happening in your body that just doesn't seem right, then try and figure out what's going on. 
• Be careful! Don't take supplements, herbs or anything unless you are very sure that it is safe and useful.
• Trust other people, but not 100%! Even a doctor can be wrong sometimes.
• If you're an older woman, perhaps a run streak isn't for you. Since my streak, I have been intrigued by how much of our advice in the sports and athletic world (and nutrition, and medication, and medicine...) is based on the adult male body. Women, especially older women, need to train differently from men. They have more stamina, but they burn energy differently, and most importantly, they recover differently. I was doing myself a disservice by emulating my heroes' run streaks, as I wasn't actually listening to what MY body needs. My body needs a day every week to recover and rest. 

I am grateful today for my healthy body, for the time I have to spend, for my lovely doula students.... oh, I am going way beyond A... tomorrow will be B.

The Runner's Alphabet

A is for Attitude.

B is for Badass

C is for Calories

D is for Depression

E is for Endorphins

F is for Friends

G is for Gym

H is for Happiness

I is for Intervals

J is for Joints

K is for Knees

L is for Love

M is for Marathon

N is for Victory

O is for Oxygen

P is for PR

Q is for Quads

R is for Runners

S is for Smile

T is for Training

U is for Underwear

V is for V02

W is for Woman

X is for Cross-training

Y is for You!

Z is for Zen

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU and VWXYZZZ now I know my ABCs
next time won't you run with me?

Gym Rats and Runners

As everybody already mostly knows, I love to run. See that big ole smile? That's me on my 60th, when I ran a kind of ok time for my second half-marathon.

I started training recently for my second full Marathon. If you want to run faster and better, and you want to build endurance and strength, you really have to do some strength training. Also, you really have to live in Montreal to experience Mother Nature's sense of humor. The winter temperature can vary from -30 (celsius) to above freezing in a half a day. I love a nice cold run: -20, sunny, cold and beautiful. You just have to know how to dress. But if it's super cold and snowy, and then it goes above freezing and everything melts, and then it rains and then it goes dow hard freezing again, and then it snows just a little bit? Then you've got a skating rink covered with a little bit of snow that's just enough so you can't see what you're landing on. 

For those days, and for my strength training, I go to the gym. 

I like gyms, kind of. I like the feeling of everyone playing. There's a lot of good hormones flying around too, and that reminds me of my real love, midwifery. It's fun watching people get their bodies strong. I like to see how everyone's body is so different. And of course I enjoy working out and pushing my body beyond what I may feel I'm capable of.

But there's a gym vibe that's just so different from the running feeling. I joined a new gym; I had a one hour session with a trainer who gave me a program and showed me where everything is. I went there for the second time, eager to try out my program. But of course I didn't know my way around that well yet. So I start my first exercise, I have to lie down. Fine, I found a spot and did my thing, its like a bridge except with holding one knee to your chest. 12 reps, 2 sets. All good.

The I had to do my lunges. The gym was crowded and I found my weights (10 pounds) and looked for a spot. I found a little spot facing the mirror where it looked to me like no one else was lifting weights or doing anything too complicated. I start my lunges. A guy came by, heading for the rack to my side. He gave a little-old-lady tut-tut and looked at me like "Get out of my way bitch". Whoa! I didn't feel good. In fact I went and found another spot. Laughs on him because he strutted off to the bench and started benching a plate - one plate, dude!, with a great deal of huffing and puffing and drama.

One of my kids benches 225 lbs, and his PR is 240. And I made that kid in this skinny old body (well, I was younger then). And I made four other ones too, all equally impressive. But hey, I'm not here for a pissing contest. In fact, I'm wondering why pissing contests exist in gyms at all. Everyone knows that bodies are different. Why not learn from your runner friends how to treat fellow athletes?

I know someone who regularly runs ultras. He did a marathon last year and cycled up to Ottawa (200 k), ran the race, then cycled back. I met him last week as he was headed out for a run with a buddy. He knows I run outside all winter so he invited me along - I told him I'd slow him down. He said, na we'll just run back and forth, all good.

Runners aren't so proud that way. We help each other out. Sure, we race against each other (why oh why did I let that lady get ahead of me last May?). But we treat each other well, and cooperation is the name of the game. So, next time you're at the gym, be nice. It'll improve your gains.