The Green Girl's Floppy Foot and Camera Woes

Now that the Green Girl has finally worked out the shoe situation and is ready to start ramping up the mileage, she decided to visit her doctor to get her foot checked out this weekend.

He started me off with some transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) therapy and ultrasound on my right foot.

He compared my leg lengths. He lifted my ankles and shook my feet.

He commented that my right foot is much looser than the other and diagnosed me with a 'floppy foot'. He explained floppy feet are very loose-jointed, overly mobile, and have a tendancy to overpronate.

He examined my 1012's and agreed that a stable, supportive shoe is what I need.

He recommended I start doing isometric exercises on a daily basis. These static strength training exercises are performed by contracting a muscle against resistance, without joint movement.

I'm just relieved the isometric exercises can be done in conjunction with the posterior tibial tendonitis exercises.

In other Green Girl news, my beloved Canon SD700IS has seen better days. It struggles to focus and I keep ending up with blurred images. The pictures are also either too dark or so bright that the colors are washed out.

I was trying to hold out for the Canon PowerShot SD4000IS coming out at the end of this month but the initial reviews are not impressive.

Now, I'm seriously considering getting a Canon PowerShot S90.

As long as the camera takes incredible pictures and fits in my hydration belt pocket, I should be a happy Green Girl.

The Green Girl Improves Her Proprioception

proprioception (prō'prē-ō-sěp'shən)
n.
The unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising
from stimuli within the body itself.

The Green Girl's ankle is doing significantly better after her two three week running hiatus.

At this point, my number one priority is to allow my ankle to heal and strengthen it as much as possible. I am so glad the San Francisco Half Marathon is not until the end of July.

As I mentioned before, my doctor wants me to do isometric exercises on a weekly basis for both my ankles to strengthen them.

My doctor also recommended I purchase or borrow a Bosu Ball and balance on it three times a day to increase my kinesthetic coordination. Instead of a pricey Bosu Ball, I found a much cheaper alternative, a Harbinger Balance Trainer, at my local discount sporting goods store, Big 5, for $19.99.

After using the Balance Trainer for a week now, I must admit I prefer it over the signficantly more expensive Bosu Ball in terms of balance training.

With the Bosu Ball, you can adjust the difficulty simply by spreading your feet further apart to make it easier or closer together to make it harder. Even at the most challenging position, the Bosu Ball is not as difficult as the Balance Trainer because the dome is firmer and offers more support. When I'm at the dojo, I continue to use the Bosu Ball for squats. I would need to purchase a second Balance Trainer if I wanted to do squats (one for each foot).

I stand on the Balance Trainer at least twice a day - in the morning and at night when I brush my teeth. Simply trying to balance on the disk is challenging but the brushing movement makes it even more difficult.

I hope this training also helps me to improve my balance and spatial awareness. I tend to trip fairly often and I've always been really accident-prone.

The Green Girl Went To The Doctor

The Green Girl finally gave in and went to get her ankle checked out by a doctor today. Truth be told, a big part of me just wanted to wait until after the Surf City USA Half Marathon in case it was bad news.

As soon as my doctor heard me in the waiting room, he yelled, 'What did you do to yourself now and when is your next race?' So he knows me well.

Luckily, he doesn't think it's a stress fracture. I'm an unemployed Green Girl right now and I was really hoping I wouldn't have to pay out of pocket for an x-ray. Like my self-diagnosis, he said I sprained the medial (inner) ankle ligaments.

He recommended I tape up my ankle and try going for a really short run. If the tape doesn't bother me, he wants me to tape before the race on Sunday. He said taping will give me much more support than an ankle wrap.

Until my ankle is fully healed, the doctor said he wants me to tape every single time I go kickboxing since I kickbox barefoot. I did my very first taping job tonight before I headed to the dojo. He wants me to ice after every workout even if I don't feel any discomfort. In addition, he wants me to start doing isometric exercises on a weekly basis for both my ankles to strengthen them.