ow! a pulled arch?

[massingUP]

Hey all,

Thought I'd try to avail myself of the collective wisdom of the group. I think I might've pulled a muscle or something on the bottom of my left foot -- specifically in the arch. It's suddenly gotten quite painful when I walk normally with my toes extended, but if I "clench" my toes somewhat (so that the muscles on the bottom of my foot aren't fully extended), it doesn't hurt so much. But when it hurts, it's quite a sharp pain. Not good.

First, has this ever happened to anyone before? It seems like an odd injury to me, and I can't think of how I might've done it to myself except via calf-raises, which I have been doing lately after NOT doing them for a long time. But it doesn't feel like just plain ol' muscle soreness or anything -- it's a much sharper pain than that.

And if anyone does have any experience with this or suggestions on how to deal with it, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks in advance,

-- J.

[glammaman2000]

occasionally,doing very heavy squats with my heels on a"lift"i've noticed it flattening out my arches.it can be a bit painful.the usual cure:wait for it to go away.

[brent]

I've had this happen before. I'm sorry to say I have no idea what causes it (Glamm's suggestion of squats cold be possible as I do love them heavy!) I also have no suggestions on how to deal with it, other than ibuprofen & walking funny. Sorry.

[RadRx]

MassingUp:

Is there a chance of it being a stress fracture of one of the tarsals (or meta-tarsals - I can't remember when one ends and the others start)?

As one learned sage of a physician once said to me 'Let pain be your guide.' Personally I wanted Vicodin to be my guide.

Outside of a professional consultation, you may be well-advised to minimize stress on it for a few weeks. If you've really done something to it during a lift, can you remember something particular about your form that may have contributed?

[massingUP]

Hey all,

I spoke to my brother-in-law about this last night, 'cause he's a competitve triathlete, and he says that it's not at all uncommon to pull muscles and/or tendons/ligaments across the bottom of your foot at the arch. He says it's happened to him from running, and he thought that it was distinctly possible I pulled it while doing standing calf raises.

At any rate, he said the best thing to do was to increase circulation in teh area to help the blood-flow heal the injury. So his recommendations -- ie things he's done when he's done this to himself -- were to (1) roll the arch of my foot on a golf-ball, in a massaging motion; (2) conduct cold/hot therapy, alternatnig my foot in a bucket of ice-cube-filled water and hot water...

Other than that, he said that time will take care of it. Adn that I should avoid walking around barefoot.

So that's a-what I'm a-doin'.

-- James