Happy Feet...Kinda

Some of you have watched the saga of me getting older and my body essentially punching me repeatedly in the face. My hip has issues. My feet have issues. My doctor constantly tells me I am too young to be in his office as often as I am (currently, I am still visiting him weekly for hip and foot issues, where he also gives me B12 shots to help with healing). Today is an update about my new adventures with the Graston Technique on my left foot (right foot had surgery in 2013).  It took about a year for my right foot to stop hurting post-surgery. On top of all of this BS, my right foot has once again started hurting (so I only got about four or five months pain-free with that foot). I guess when you mess with your alignment, it can cause other issues.

So the left hip started randomly giving me trouble about five years ago (no injury to blame it on). I saw Keith and he got me back into a place where I could live relatively pain-free. After starting that new job in San Francisco in 2012, and going from wearing flip flops every day to real shoes, my right foot started really hurting. After having surgery and limping around in a moon boot for awhile, my left hip flared up again but I just kind of ignored it. My doctor warned me if I didn't take care of it, I would develop arthritis, and he started performing myofascial release on that hip this year. It has been life-changing. (We don't even have to mention how my little fall in Vegas put me back months and I'm still paying the price for that with my tight toes.) Something my doctor mentioned at one visit was how the tightness in my foot was related to my tight calves. Interestingly enough, I had just started having the Graston technique performed on my foot and calf the same week my doctor mentioned this.

I am about six weeks in to having the Graston technique performed on my foot (about once a week, although the holidays have made that a little difficult) and I really do feel like it is making a difference in the pain in my feet. The actual technique can be kind of painful. I have these crazy knots in my calves. I have always felt like my muscles practically melted after gastric bypass. Losing weight that quickly just destroys your body. My theory is that when the muscles started coming back, they fused in weird ways. When I used to get Charlie horses in my calf, it would be the back of the leg. After gastric bypass, Charlie horses moved into this place in between my muscles, which was completely unreachable and never could be rubbed out.

Although I am certainly not yet cured of foot pain, on the weeks I have Angela work on me, I am in significantly less pain than on the weeks I haven't been able to make it in. I am continuing with my yoga in order to keep myself somewhat stretched out. I am also using the Bledsoe brace on my left foot to keep pressure on the fascia. It is frustrating to be going through this on my other foot, but I really do hope that, if I keep up the Graston visits, I may be able to avoid future surgery on that foot.

Got any tricks for foot pain? I'm open to trying almost anything! I have been throwing around the idea of trying acupuncture. That should be fun...I really love needles. Not.

Bone spurs on the right foot. The left foot has similar, although smaller, spurs

Awesome bruise after a Graston visit

Graston Technique: A Story About My Sad Feet

In my last pain update, I reported that I injured myself at Pole Expo and was dealing with some major foot and back problems.  It is about six weeks later, and I am happy to report that my back is feeling much better (though it is still a little tight).  I am finally back to doing mini backbends in yoga (in my world, standing upright is a back bend).  My left foot is slowly following along (well, the top of it and the toes -- we will get to the bottom of my foot later).  Last night in yoga, I was actually able to roll over my toes from plank to downward dog without having to lift my feet up and carefully place them on the ground in order to avoid the sad toes.  However, now my left hip, which had responded well to the myofascial release therapy (I actually had quite a few completely pain free days!), is suddenly hurting.  A lot.  I can't win.  Ever.  

Don't tell anyone I was wearing these shoes...

Anyway, I met Angela through a fellow Twirly Girl, Jessica.  Angela, owner of Body Strong Massage, came out to NCPP and did chair massages for most of the day.  When I met Angela, she was in the process of setting up a location pretty close to my house so I promised to set up an appointment for a massage.  It took me a few months to pull it together but I finally got out there last week.  While she worked on me, we talked about all of my body issues.  Scars.  Injuries.  We talked about my foot surgery.  It took about a year, but my right foot is now mostly pain free post-fascia release, however, there's still kind of a bump in my foot where the fascia was cut.  Sadly, my left foot (even before the latest injury) was starting to have the plantar fasciitis type pain.  I expressed my frustration and she understood.  Angela does those crazy ultra marathons.  The ones I couldn't even dream of walking, much less running, with all the issues I'm having right now.  Anyway, she pulls out this little metal tool and starts talking about the Graston Technique.  She tells me she battled plantar fasciitis for a long time and it almost ruined her.  So she does foot work for a very reasonable price because she feels so passionately about helping people live without pain.  

What is the Graston Technique?  

"Graston Technique^® is an evidence-based form of instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization that enables clinicians to effectively address scar tissue and fascial restrictions through comprehensive training, resulting in improved patient outcomes.

The technique uses specially-designed stainless steel instruments, along with appropriate therapeutic exercise, to specifically detect and effectively treat areas exhibiting soft tissue fibrosis or chronic inflammation. The instruments also are used diagnostically to follow the kinetic chain, to locate and treat the cause of the symptom as well as the specific area of pain."

Angela tried out the technique on me during the massage.  She likened the knots in my body to many plastic bags stuck together.  You know, like those little bags in the grocery store that we need to lick our fingers to separate and put our produce in?  Those ones.  The tool is this small metal, almost brass knuckle-looking, thing.  I think of it kind of like a squeegee.  Think of laying tint on a window and you're trying to get all the air bubbles out.  That's how it felt for me.  

Although, Angela worked on me a little bit with the tool last Friday, I made an appointment for last night just to have my feet worked on.  It was crazy.  I could feel all of these little cracky things in both feet and calves.  She could feel where I was tight and then follow the yellow brick road to another area of the leg that was also tight.  I am a little sore today but have another appointment for next week.  

This was a really great experience for me.  I am not lessening the amazingness of Keith but it is nice to have someone very close to home.  I am realizing that, although Keith really put me back together when I was in the worst place, I needed to be seeing him a couple of times a week for a few months in order to have truly reaped the benefits of what he does.  I didn't really get that until I watched my doctor work on my hip.  So I am going to be more proactive with my feet and not wait until I can't walk to take care of the problem.

So, between my doctor fixing my hip and Angela fixing my feet, my goal is to be relatively pain free in 2015!  I have not been that way in over five years.  

Have you ever tried the Graston Technique?  Someone mentioned that it can be used on scars in general so maybe I'll start having her run it over my plastic surgery scars that have tightened down.  I'd love to hear about your experiences with it!