New update

Life is certainly happening and although I have not blogged any in a long time, that does not mean that I am not consistently, persistently working toward going hiking in August with Scott. There has been a lot to manage – the issue with my feet persisted even though I have super boots, I have gotten computer designed insoles for my feet from Foot Solutions, and I have been training.
Last spring on a whim, I competed in the Cobb Senior Games in several swimming events and won gold in all of them – 50 and 100 yard breast, back and freestyle races. I was recruited into the largest Masters swim team in Georgia – the Killer Whales, and went on to compete in events at the University of Georgia in June, the Georgia Games short course, and outside 1 K, winning many races. Who knew? Competitive swimming was not something that I thought I could ever do. I competed at Auburn University Nationals in August and came in 5th and 6th in the 400 and 800 meter freestyle and third in the 200 meter breast stroke. It was fun and rewarding, AND after the August 2011 meet, I began to focus again on the hiking.
My full time job is with a small agency that started offering health insurance last fall. It took few months to get an appointment with someone regarding my feet, but finally saw a neurologist in January. She did a couple of tests and found that the nerve in both legs that services the muscle that points the toe is compromised. She later estimated that the damage is 20-50%. She also tested the muscle and indicated that if the muscle had atrophied, then the nerve damage began a long time ago. It had. She was surprised that I had few problems with balance and that I had not had more problems with my feet than I had and attributed my continued use to my being an athlete. Never thought of myself as an athlete before.
In a subsequent visit, we discussed what options might be available. She said that she could order an MRI, but didn’t think it was necessary now, because it is probably just a disc in my back that has caused some damage. She said she would order it anyway and I could decide if I wanted to have that done. She agreed that physical therapy would be a good idea, as there might be some postures or exercises that would assist in keeping my back in place that would prevent the nerves from being pinched. She ordered more blood tests to check for any other flags of possible diseases that might have caused the nerve issue.
After the January appointment I had begun having sciatica, and I had not had that recently. Regular chiropractic did not seem to be helping, so I was concerned that the pain might be caused by something else. So, I thought the MRI might be a good idea until I found out it would cost me over $1000 to have it done. Those of you who are reading this who know me know that I have usually looked to alternative ways of healing when issues have come up. Indeed, there are many medical issues that have been diagnosed that seem to have disappeared. Soo, I started looking for different ways of looking at this issue.
I went to an energy healer that one friend recommended. Among other things, he told me to throw the hiking boots and insoles away and go barefooted. When I told him I was not going to do that, he recommended I read the book Born to Run and buy the funny shoes with toes. I did that within the week. The book is a great read and gave a great story and good information about the evolution of man and some things scientists may have been missing about what we humans were designed to do. And one of the surprising statistics was that since the design of the super running shoes, there has been an exponential increase in foot, knee, and leg injuries. It seems that what we are doing is compounding the problem, not solving it.
When I got the Foot Solutions insoles at the beginning of last summer, I started wearing the hiking boots or new tennis shoes with the insoles in them almost every day. Then I found that shoes that I could wear before I started wearing the super insoles, I could not wear at all. It was as if my feet were becoming weaker because of the extra support they were getting. So, I started trying the funny shoes with toes. I noticed immediately that I did not seem to need hiking poles as much – my balance with the new shoes was much better than before. Also, different parts of my feet and legs were being used now, and it was clear that these were muscles that had not been used before.
I would hike some in the funny shoes, and then sometimes change shoes (and socks) on the trail. I noticed within two weeks of wearing the funny shoes that I could wear heals where I had not been able to do that for some years. My feet were getting stronger. It is clear to me now that the reason I could not wear heals was because of the balance issue. My back would try to compensate and be in strain while wearing heals because of the lack of muscles to keep me upright. I also noticed that when I used the hiking boots with the special insoles that my feet hurt worse.
So I am now alternating between hiking with the funny toe shoes and have gone back to the regular insoles in my Keen’s. I still have trouble with the muscles – after a few miles, the muscle just goes numb and I get a burning sensation in the ball of my feet going to the second and third toe. When it gets too bad, I stop on the trail and prop my feet up. Then I go on. What there is to do is train.