I can walk!

[threeringedmoon]

I've suffered from a combination of achilles tendinitis and plantar fasciitus in my left foot for five years or so.  I've had physical therapy for it twice, but because the effects of PT don't last very long after I stop I was reluctant to go back for another try.  This past year it has been about a four on a scale on 1-7 where 7 is as bad as it has ever been.

In November, I started yoga in a small class setting with an instructor I really like.  I think she is pretty good, though I don't have any basis for comparison, except physical therapists.  She is very good about helping me work around my physical defects, which includes a bad shoulder. 

This morning I had to stop and pick up a few groceries on my way home.  I was expecting a phone call, so I was feeling a bit rushed.  I realized I was walking like I did six or seven years ago, briskly, and with no limp.  I felt like I was walking the way I did when it was normal for me to take a three mile walk several times a week.  Considering there were times a year ago I was considering using one of the motorized carts provided for the disabled when I had to shop it feels miraculous.

Yoga is the only change I've made in the past two months to account for the improvement.  I am so pleased. 

Comments

[muck_a_luck]

Do you do a lot of Crescent Lunge, where you stay up on the toes of the back foot? I almost never get food cramps anymore (I used to get them occassionally, probably once a month, when I did not do yoga), and I have often wondered if that major arch stretch impacts my foot health - how could it not?

[threeringedmoon]

I don't believe I've done the Crescent Lunge.

[foxfirefey]

My guess is that doing yoga is pretty much like consistently doing physical therapy! It's always felt that way to me. I always feel so much more balanced physically/muscularly when I regularly do yoga. Helps take away some of my desk jockey-itis.

[libitina]

I tore my planar fascia in August, and I've had mixed results with yoga. Sometimes it feels like the warmth, stretching, and better blood flow are helping. Other times, it feels like it's reinjuring it. And I can only tell which one it'll be a couple hours after the practice and my feet have had time tostiffen up.

So what kind of yoga have you been doing?

[threeringedmoon]

I think it's pretty much a generic mix. Some moving yoga, but more holding poses.

As far as I know I don't have any tears in my fascia.

[dragonfly]

This is great to hear!