I can walk!

I had my appointment with the orthopedist yesterday afternoon. He had me describe my injury, the full history of my foot/ankle issues, he palpated my foot, and then he had me walk, stand on one leg, and squat while he watched. After all that, he concluded that I was right (and the ED doc was wrong), this isn't a stress fracture!!

There is no real name for my diagnosis, but basically it stems from my darn high arches (that caused all my stupid plantar fasciitis issues), tight achilles (from a gymnastics injury) weak ankles (from many, many sprains during my gymnastic days). When I run, my whole ankle is rolling side to side and rolling particularly far outward. This was causing the pain in my Talus. (I had no idea what a Talus was and had to google it!

image source

I appreciated his thorough exam and explanation, but was eager to get to the important stuff. Like can I walk? More importantly, can I run? 

I won't keep you in suspense. The answer is yes and yes!

If it doesn't hurt too much, I can run. They gave me an ankle brace so help keep my foot in alignment. This should help all the poor stretched out parts of my foot heal. It feels much better walking with it on.

my newest fashion item.

To prevent this in the future I also need to go to PT. I need to start at the top and strength my lower body from the top down. I need strengthen my glutes and hamstrings so that my knees are supported and aligning properly. Then I need to increase the flexibility in my Achilles so my foot can move through a normal range of motion. Then, I need to strengthen my ankles. 

I feel like I dodged a major bullet on this one. I still have some work in front of me to completely recover, but at least I can run while I do it!