Tours: More Walking and Hiking Than I Thought I Could Do!

At the Ponte Vecchio

Between my knee pain from patellofemoral syndrome and my foot pain from hammertoes, for years I've had some limited mobility. At first I could hardly walk or stand. I could no longer ride a bicycle or walk down stairs. At my local YMCA I had to use the disabled locker room, because I couldn't do the stairs. With each diagnosis, I went through anger and depression. My thoughts ranged from "What?! I'm not even halfway done with life!" to "I give up."

I dutifully attended my physical therapy appointments, and initially did all of the prescribed exercises. Once the intense pain subsided, I often slacked off, lazily skipping my exercises until the pain returned. And some exercises made the pain worse, so I had to stop doing even gentle squats or leg presses.

But over time, I got better. I was able to get rid of the stool in my classroom, because I was able to stand. I eventually was able to walk down stairs again. I hike, walk, lift weights, and swim. And my husband and I have even started going on walking and hiking tours.

Two years ago we went on vacation to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park with Road Scholar. The trip was fantastic, and the guides were wonderful.

This spring we went to Italy. Again, fantastic guides and an amazing experience. Walked and walked and walked. On cobblestones, marble floors, and up and down stairs. Most days I had sore feet, but so did everyone else. And oh, what an experience!

The Colosseum in Rome

Stairs in the Colosseum

Walked all over the Forum, and up Palatine Hill for this view

Walked many stairs in Rome!

The Vatican

Gallery of Maps in the Vatican

The Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

Bernini's David

Ancient Roman Sculptures 

Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Ponte Vecchio

Michelangelo's David

Brunelleschi's Dome at the Piazza del Duomo

Market Stall

Meat Counter

Inside the Palazzo Vecchio

Walking Around Florence

Doesn't every city have a dollar store?

Catching the high speed rail to Venice

The Grand Canal

Bridge near our hotel

One of our wonderful Road Scholar guides

The Grand Canal

Venice alley

Fashionable Italians

Replacing a bulb

Fresh fish

Gondola ride

Venice Canal

Gondolas near Piazza di San Marco

Venice light

Venetian windows

Glass blower on Murano

Murano canal

A night cruise

New and old together in the Jewish Ghetto in Venice

A Footwear Experiment

Barefoot is still the best!

It's been five plus years since my last post. I've been busy with life, and through many changes: fledging a young adult into the world, retirement, learning to make mosaics, becoming a watercolor painter in earnest. And through it all, my knees and feet have survived pretty darn well.

Watercolor sketching at the beach 

Last year I unwittingly did a foot experiment. My feet had been feeling great, so I gradually wore other normal shoes more and more, and my Vibrams less and less. Nothing crazy, no high heels. But not my Veebs. Eventually I noticed that my feet were hurting, mostly in the ball of the foot. The pain became more and more persistent until I could no longer avoid it. I tried lots of things: massage, epsom salt foot baths, ice, rest. Those things helped a bit, but the pain wouldn't go away.

A lovely beach hike

Then I finally realized that I had stopped wearing the Vibrams altogether.  I put them back on. Wore them for one day. And after just one day, the pain was gone!

My four favorite pairs of Vibrams: all Komodos

So now I make sure to wear them at least a few days a week. My foot muscles need exercise, just like the other muscles in my body. And they need stretching, and massage, some tender loving care every so often.

One of my favorite places to walk

I'm still an avid fan of "The Veebs."  My Vibram shoes have proven to be a lifesaver for me. I'm now on my fifth or sixth pair of Vibrams. It's definitely time to buy a new pair!

A New Kind of Torture

As they say on one wise website, runbare.com, "If you’re smiling, your doing something right and if not, then stop, rest, and recollect."

My new kind of torture is the pain in the ball of my foot.  This pain is mostly in the left foot.  It comes with every step.  In mid-November, it was starting to bother me, so I started listening to my feet.

What did I do?  I switched from my Vibrams and Vivo Barefoots back to New Balance running shoes and Clarks some days.  I added padded insoles.  Removed a corn.  Rested as much as possible.  Which is hard to do when you teach elementary school, and trying to keep tabs on all 30 students for 6 hours.  I iced, I massaged, I soaked in the hot tub.

In early December, I decided I was rested enough to go on a hike.  Thinking this was just a 3 mile jaunt, I was optimistic, so wore my veebs but brought my running shoes just in case.  Ooh, man!  It turned out to be 6+ miles, and steep trails.  I cried the last half of the hike.  Haven't been able to go for a hike or even a walk since.

Luckily, I loooove to swim, so I'm still active a few times a week.  I also had two weeks off for the holidays, and cancelled the plans to walk around San Francisco and hike the hills.  Lots of movies, reading, and crafting.  Back at school this month, I use my rolling chair and my stool as much as possible.  I sit on desks, tables and counters whenever I can, reminding my students that only I can do this, because I'm an "old lady." 

But it's getting me down.  Yes, even sunny, optimistic me.  Pain can do that.  I've spent some sleepless nights, laying there wondering what I'm going to do for the next fifty years if I can't hike or walk.  At the end of a long day teaching, especially after a field trip, my temper tends to flare as the soles of my feet throb with every step.

What now? 
The torture continues. 

I've thought of going back to the podiatrist, but she was the one who told me there was no therapy, that I would have hammertoes, and eventually surgery.  She convinced me to order expensive custom orthotics that make my toes float in the shoe, so I can't avoid walking the old heel-strike way. Besides, they don't fit in any of my shoes.  I may consider talking to her again, but only after doing my own research. 

So today I dug out my old over-the-counter orthotics with the metatarsal bump that I bought at Footwear over a year ago.  Some relief.  Icing and resting more.  And doing some online research. 

Anybody out there have an answer?

Too Much of a Good Thing

It's true: too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

I've been wearing my veebs for a year, working, walking, hiking, and singing their praises.  Now I have a new problem: foot pad pain.  It feels like a bruise all over the ball of my foot.  The left foot hurts more than the right. 

I tried resting it for a few days, icing it off and on.  Tried walking again, and ouch!  Treated a few corns.  Even went back to my old, cushiony running shoes.  More rest and ice, then made the mistake of going on a hike with my husband.  It was way longer and way steeper than I was led to believe.  Now they hurt all the time.

I should probably go back to the podiatrist, but what is she going to tell me?  Those vibrams are bad for my feet?  I should wear the awful orthotics, which will require buying all new shoes?  Those vibrams made my hammertoe situation much better.  I do not like the orthotics.

So I'm trying a new thing.  Swimming 3 times a week, which gives me my cardio workout without stressing the feet.  No walking, just using the elliptical machine at my gym, so no more pounding.  And soaking these dogs once a week in a warm epsom salts or baking soda bath.  And yes, I am wearing my old-lady running shoes and my Clarks, with a gel insert I picked up at the drug store. 

The veebs are waiting patiently in the closet.  I hope to be ready for them by spring break.

Don't Lose Hope; Follow Your Passions

Sometimes we are motivated by the most unlikely events or people.  Other times we have such a strong intrinsic motivation that outside forces do not easily dissuade us.

This week Sir John Gurdon won the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine with Shinya Yamanaka for their work as pioneers in stem cell research.  Mr. Gurdon was not encouraged by his teachers to be a scientist.  On the contrary, his dreams were dismissed as "ridiculous."

 Gurdon school report, aged 15

"I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous; if he can't learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and of those who would have to teach him." bbc.co.uk/news/health

View this Sir John Gurdon video.

This story brings to mind my experience with a Spanish professor in college.  I was a Spanish major, and loved speaking Spanish in high school, but had very little success in Dr. Lopez's class.  I was nowhere near ready to discuss literary criticism of the works of Federico García Lorca or Don Quijote.  I decided to take a semester in Bogotá, Colombia to immerse myself in the language and culture.  When I asked Dr. Lopez for a letter of recommendation, he laughed at me. "Susan, you will never learn Spanish."  Rather than be dissuaded by his lack of confidence, I knew I had to prove him wrong.  And I did.  Upon returning to the U.S. after my semester abroad, I approached my old professor and showed him how my Spanish had improved, no thanks to him.

As a patient, I continue to reject the prognosis of my podiatrist.  She examined my sore and swollen feet, and she told me there was no way to prevent the onset of hammertoes.  She asserted that my toes would eventually curl up permanently, my foot pad would move forward and stop protecting the ball of my foot, and I would eventually need surgery.  I am proving her wrong.  My foot strength and flexibility continue to improve through "barefoot walking."  My vibrams continue to be my shoes of choice for walking, hiking, even for work.

As a teacher, this story reminds me to encourage my students in their passions, and to withhold judgement about their future abilities.  For goodness sake, my kids are only 9 and 10 years old.  Their brains and bodies are developing at an astounding rate.  Each one develops his or her academic and social skills at a different rate.  A student may not be successful in a certain area this year, but later may jump ahead of the pack.  Why dissuade them from following their passions?  What I want to do is feed their dreams, encourage their growth, and push them on to higher heights.

A New Kind of Pain

I've been in denial.  So what else is new?

For the past couple of months I've had a new pain in my feet.  I'm used to getting toe cramps and cramps in the arch of my foot.  I like to think of these as good pain, as in "No pain, no gain."  I'm giving my feet a workout every day, so of course the muscles are going to be cramped and sore sometimes.  Massage and ice usually take care of these.

But this new pain has worried me.  It's a sharper pain, and it's in the top of the foot.  Initially just in the right foot, but now in both.  I thought it might be from overworking my feet, because I wore my minimal shoes all summer, and walked so much on vacation.  I iced my foot a few times, and wore regular shoes(my old Clarks) for a few days.  It seemed to help.

When the pain returned, I became more concerned.  What if I'm doing some permanent harm to my feet?  What if all this barefoot walking stuff is baloney?

I considered going to the doctor.  I should go to the doctor for a pain I'm worried about, right?  But the podiatrist is the one who told me my feet were hopeless, that I was fated to suffer debilitating hammertoes which would someday require surgery.  She's the one who told me there was nothing I could do to stop it.  So what's she going to tell me?  I can just hear it, "Those silly five finger shoes are not supportive enough.  You need to wear custom orthotic inserts.  And get ready for surgery."  Of course, this is just what I imagine, but really, she doesn't know much about barefoot walking.

Susan, you've gone rogue, remember?  You are NOT willing to give up on these feet.  You're on your own.

So I started paying attention to this pain.  I treated it just like my chronic mid-back pain, and my occasional shoulder pain.  To my morning ritual of yoga stretches and leg exercises, I added icing the top of my foot.  I iced it before bed.  And I took 600 mg of ibuprofen 3 times a day to reduce swelling.  I even added a gentle stretch: while standing, I curl the toes of one foot under and hold it for a count of 30.  And guess what?  The pain is greatly diminished.  Not gone, mind you, but manageable.  And at age 50, that's the best I can hope for, right?

Reminds me of a Louis CK shtick about his ankle when he turned 40. 

Louis CK

I'm going to go ice my foot now.

Shoes

 So here's your foot.  Unadulterated, in it's birthday suit.

 We know we're not supposed to wear high heeled shoes.  They're obviously bad for our feet.  It always makes me cringe to see grown women wearing what I call Barbie shoes.  Those shoes that squish up your toes and twist up your ankles.

But how about those walking shoes and running shoes that everyone seems to be wearing, the ones our doctors most often recommend, the ones that are supposed to give our feet the support and stability they need?  When my feet have been sore after work, I have generally tossed the silly shoes aside and slipped my tootsies into a pair of comfy running shoes.  I even keep a pair under my desk at school.  You know, the sensible shoes.




Well, look at how high the foot is when we're wearing those shoes.  I've talked to several people who've actually injured themselves falling OFF of their running shoes.  And two years ago, after the physical therapists told me to wear orthotic inserts for even more arch support, my feet began to hurt more.  Until I was diagnosed with hammertoes, and began to search for alternatives to surgery.

So it's back to nature for me.  Good old bare feet!  But the problem comes when you want to enter a place of business, or a school, or a library, or an airport.  Of course, they make you take off your shoes, but certainly expect you to put them back on after you pass through security.  So what kind of shoes should a person wear?

Kinds of Minimalist Shoes

There are all kinds of cool shoes out there for people who want to sport the cool, new low-rider shoe look.

There are the strange shoes with little fingers for your toes.

Vibrams

 These were my first minimal shoes, initally very difficult to put on, as my little curled-up baby toes didn't want to go into their individual fingers.  Now they're my faves.  And when they get dusty from the trail, I throw them in the washing machine.

 These get plenty of odd stares and comments, and also pleasant compliments from cool young people on the street, as in "Nice veebs!"

There are shoes for those who don't want to have their feet stared at.

Merrills

See, everybody's jumping on the minimal shoe bandwagon.

New Balance

I hear these are nice, too.

Vivobarefoot

 These are my second pair of low-rider shoes.  They are just as comfy as my Veebs, but don't get the stares.

And then there are shoes that are even more minimal, even less shoe:

Unshoes

You can buy them.

Invisible Shoes 

 Or make your own. 

homemade huaraches

My sister has been doing this.  She runs miles and miles in them!  You can buy materials that costs about $5, and make your own custom huaraches. 







Whatever you choose, it's important to pick shoes that
#1 are comfortable
#2 are low to the ground
#3 have a ample room for your toes, or a wide toe box
#4 are flexible
#5 let the arch move up and down, like a natural shock absorber.