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!

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.

Diagnosis

I finally saw a podiatrist about my foot pain.  I was proud of myself for finally contacting my doctor and insisting on seeing a specialist.  I've had this nagging pain in the ball of my feet, near my little toes.  First my right foot, but lately my left foot hurt even more.  And now it was time to get to the bottom of it, and get this problem fixed.

Boy, was I wrong.

I sat on the cushioned chair as the podiatrist examined my feet, straightening and bending the little toes, feeling the arch of my foot.  She had me stand up, and watched my arches flatten down to the cold linoleum. 

I explained that I had sent photos of my right foot to my regular doctor, and that she had suggested I might have metatarsalgia.  I had bought several pairs of shoes with a wider toe box, and orthotics with a metatarsal bump as the shoe salesperson recommended. I was trying to rest my feet as much as possible, which was not easy in my line of work.  I teach fourth grade, so I stand and walk on concrete floors at least 6 hours a day.  Sitting for long isn't feasible, because my classroom management would go out the window.

I have stopped going for walks, which I used to do frequently.  It's all I can do to get through the day.  Luckily I love to swim, because that's the only type of exercise that doesn't exacerbate my foot pain.

But even with all of these measures, the pain was getting worse.  I had come to the podiatrist to find out what they could do, what I could do, to make my feet get better.  Maybe I was wearing the wrong shoes, or needed different orthotics.

They had taken xrays of my feet while standing on a special platform.  Weight-bearing poses, to see how my feet looked at their most uncomfortable position.

But the podiatrist didn't even look at my xrays. She could tell what was wrong from just rubbing my toes and moving them around.  She said that I have the onset of hammertoes.  That unlike normal little toes, my little toes curled up when in a resting position.  They could easily be straightened by pushing on them, but  would curl up again when let go.  The muscles and bones in my feet no longer held up my arches, but let them go flat on the floor.  And the foot pads under the ball of my feet was moving forward towards the toes, and eventually would not provide much cushion at all.  She cut off the painful corn on the outside of my foot, but said that it would return because it would rub on my shoes.

I of course did not accept this. "What do I need to do to get better?  Physical therapy?  Massage?  Acupunture?  Exercise?" I asked.  "Wouldn't that be nice?" she replied, "Unfortunately, there's not much you can do.  We can order you custom orthotics to make you more comfortable in the meantime, but you can't change it.  You were just born with this kind of foot."  And then she proceeded to tell me what the future held: painful, cramped toes that don't uncurl, and surgery to straighten the toes and alleviate the pain.

I was stunned.  Extremely disappointed.  But seeing that I knew no other option, I took her prescription down the hall to the cast room, and got fitted for the $250 custom orthotics.  They would take 4 weeks to arrive.

What a shitty week.  I was so depressed about my foot future, and still in pain every day.  I wore my old orthotics faithfully every day, but my feet felt just awful.