Always the “knock on wood” type, I’m always a little hesistant to post about my running. Mostly because I don’t want to jinx myself. 
Here’s the deal:
- Knee is MUCH better – like, 95%! It feels great when I run and I can’t TELL you how wonderful it feels to simply not be in pain all.day.long anymore.
- I’ve been running 3-4 days a week, usually between 3-4 miles each time. I definitely don’t want to overdo anything!
- The bottom of my left foot has been bothering me a little bit, specifically, my tibialis posterior muscle:
(Source)
I am NOT messing around with injuries anymore, guys! Obviously there is something wrong, since I hurt my right hip for a year, my left knee for 1.5 years, and now my left foot for a few weeks.
So what’s a girl to do?
Get her running gait analyzed!
I’ve been wanting to do this for a LONG time – I’ve had it done at a running store, but I went to a special sports clinic where a Physiotherapist (who has been trained) tests all of your muscles, looks at your feet, and analyzes how you are running.
He found:
- My left foot is flatter than my right, causing me to pronate on that side. (Interesting that he found this immediately, just by looking at my feet without shoes/socks on!)
- My running gait is neutral, for the most part (phew!). My neutral shoes are okay to continue wearing.
- My hip and glutes are a little weak, which could be contributing to some of my injuries.
He set me up with some exercises to help strengthen the inner arch of my foot, told me to “massage” the bottom of my foot by standing and rolling my foot on a golf ball (hurts so goooood), and gave me exercises to strengthen my hips, glutes and calves. He also advised that I keep wearing my orthotics I just got last year.
(I also found this great website that has very helpful yoga stretches and exercises that I plan to do!)
I am crossing my fingers that this will do the trick. And I would highly recommend getting your gait analyzed if you are a runner who has struggled with numerous injuries! It’s pretty obvious my hip problem lead to my knee problem, and my knee problem lead to my foot problem. It really is all connected, and it’s good to get it checked out by a professional so you can nip the problem in the bud. 
If you’re a runner, do you know if you pronate/suppinate/heel strike/whatever?
And for fun: If you were a crayon, what color crayon would you be?
I would be periwinkle!
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Because I love the color and, let’s face it, it’s fun to say.
Happy Friday!
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