Got a hot tip for a good podiatrist here in Sydney, so made myself an appointment and saw him this morning. But I should have taken heed of the warning that came with his name,
Mr.T.
After a barrage of barked questions he took to my various body parts with titanium-tipped steel thumbs, forced me to stretch muscles and ligaments until they snapped; measured various angles with instruments that doubled as Inquisition Confession-getters and then as I lay begging for mercy he made some pronouncements:
- my skeletal structure is a confusion of small problems which cumulatively are destroying my knees, shins, hips and alarmingly, my neck.
- my current orthotics are managing the problem but not remedying it.
- the reason I have trouble running further than 30km/week is because my hamstrings are woeful and my lower legs are consequently working too hard which leads to shin splints and in turn exacerbates my knee problems.
- my right shin is crooked to an extent that also means knee problems are inevitable.
- my right leg is about 8mm longer than the left which means further inevitable hip problems (the early stages of which he amply demonstrated with another demonstration of his best friend - pain).
- I am rapidly developing bunions, which may or may not cause pain later on but which also demonstrate a fundamental skeletal problem.
- my knees were not as badly wrecked as my GP had led me to believe and so it wasn't too late to try and remedy the problem.
- however he suggested not running further than 10km at a stretch for the time being, but there was no reason I couldn't run the "occasional" marathon if I wished in the future (before my body completely packs up).
- that despite these issues I was in "pretty good form" for a 47 y.o., BUT;
- unless I stretched those bloody hammies daily he would personally disembowel me as a warning to others.
I asked, "So you don't really have a problem with me continuing to run?"
"No", he said smilingly as he took my wallet, impounded my car and taking my kids as surety for the payment of the new super running-orthotics, "not at all." (I couldn't help noticing that my wallet was significantly lighter when he handed it back, but I felt it impolite to check its contents.)
When I again promised to stretch the hammies daily he finally released his iron grip and I escaped out of his dungeon and into daylight again, which somehow seemed vaguely more sinister than when I had arrived.
So on the whole a fairly positive (if not a little painful) outcome I thought. And to be honest, I'm a little relieved that he recommended restricting my mileage for a while. The hills around here where I live have made even short distances difficult, so my mileage has been pretty low anyway, but it's not been without some degree of difficulty. It puts the idea of a marathon on the back burner again, and even November's Point to Pinnacle must be in doubt now, but such is life. The main aim of my running has always been to prolong life anyhow, and I've persisted through injury mainly for that reason. It's the one form of exercise I can readily do and which I enjoy. So it's worth the hassles. If I never get to run a marathon it won't matter
that much, as that hasn't been the main goal. Still, it would be nice not to have to die wondering.
Anyway, excuse me, but I have to go and stretch my hamstrings before The Inquisition call.
:o
Another planet, another podiatrist.
