A word about my ankle and its healing progress.
In mid-March, while I was playing tennis, I apparently did something to my ankle that I didn't quite realize. In the evening, my ankle felt sore and painful, especially when I went down a flight of stairs. I've had that feeling several times in the past from sore muscles so I thought that it was just sore muscles and that I'd just power through. So, come to the next tennis practice, I went and played as much and as hard as the pain would let me. I would start off feeling tight, but in time I would loosen up and the pain would become weaker until I didn't even notice it until I really had to run, stop and change directions. This lasted for about three practice sessions. Finally, one day I was looking at my ankle and it was swollen to the point where I couldn't even see that nubby bone on the sides of the ankle. So, I put a cold pack on it and elevated it and did all the home remedies I could think of to do. But it was still swollen.
Finally, I took a Tuesday off from work and went to the hospital to get it X-rayed and checked out. The doc said that the tendon that sort of controls the outside to in lateral movement was damaged and a big contributor was my flat feet or lack of any type of arch in my feet. So the doc prescribed an insole made specifically for my foot. For some reason, he made one only for my left foot. He also taped up my foot and I immediately felt the difference and the pain was much lower. So, they took a mold of my foot and was told it would be done by Friday.
On Friday I went back to the hospital to pick up the insole. I felt great, at first, then my arch started to ache. But I sort of bent my foot to relieve the ache then kept going. After a few days, I was used to the new insole, but I didn't like the difference in the hight of my shoes, so I went to the sporting good store to get an insole from there to try and even it out. About five days into using the left insole I noticed something different in my gate.
Since high school, I was walking sort of like a clown, with my toes jutting out with every step. Both the left and right. There was a guy that I sort of idolized, a really popular guy, president of the Student Council type of guy, and we were actually friends. I went to his house often. And that was how he walked so I started to walk like him from my freshmen year and since then, I'd always walked like that. A few years ago I tried to correct it by myself by consciously trying to put my toes forward when I stepped instead of out, but after a few days, my knees started to hurt. Then when I stopped trying to fix it, the pain went away. So I thought there was no hope of correcting it. But with this new insole, in less than a week of using it in my work shoes, my gate was straight, and then with the store bought insole in my right, my right side was also starting to point forward as well. I was ecstatic! Now, I'm using arch supporters that wrap around my arch and foot when I'm at home in my socked feet. I don't want to lose that effect. Now, I'm looking into getting arch supporting insole for all my shoes.
You may be asking "why not just buy the store insoles instead of getting the expensive one made specifically for my foot?" Well, there is a difference, a huge difference actually. The store insole is a one-size-fits-all style so it is close to where I need the support but not right on it. I have to wiggle it into position several times while I'm wearing it while the prescription one is perfect every time. Plus, with insurance, I'm getting 70% back so it's not actually that expensive.
Anyway, that is my story. I'm still not playing tennis, but I hope to go back to practice from May at the earliest. I'm taking the whole month of April off.
I highly recommend that if you have arch issues that you get arch support insoles. It will change your life!
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