Thursday, June 13, 2013

Heal the Heel - #2

Heal the heel # 2

Since my last post on this topic, I have been taking 'extra' care with my heel.  But the heel problem is still nagging me.  Ashwin Prabhu was right on the money when warned me after Dubai Marathon early this year.  He prophesied 'anything below ankle takes time to heal' and he is right.. It is taking a longggg time to heal.  The reason is quite simple, we can't stay off our feet and tend to disturb the already inflamed muscle by simply moving around or running.

As suggested by my Physio Vidhya, I got gel heel inserts from a Reliance footprints store in Chennai.  There was no choice and got the last pair of the Dr. Scholl's inserts available.  It was not in great condition but that was the start.  Since then, I have tried few other heel inserts but have finally settled on Dr. Scholls heel cups.  I used them in my Comrades run early this month.  They did provide appreciable relief and kept the heel pain at bay for a while. But, over a long run, heel pain reared its ugly head back up.

Heel cups are clearly not the cure for the heel problems, they at best help you 'manage' the issue.  Then, how do we 'cure' the heel?  According to my Physio, the best and perhaps the only medication is rest, icing and taping.  After that, find the root cause and fix that before starting to hit the asphalt again.

So, I have pretty much not run since Comrades and ice my heel twice a day. (recommendation is to do 6 times.. ).  Also, physio tapes my heel daily to provide some 'cushion'.

This treatment is supposed to repair the fatpad and make the heel pain go away.  But, my physio feels the heel pain I got is only a symptom and the actual cause may be with my running gait.  He feels, something happened up above (legs) to change my gait which is causing the heel pain.

So, even after the heel repair, if I don't fix my gait the problem could reappear.  Now, How does he know the problem is with my gait?  That story in a future post....

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