Week 8: Doing More, Feet “Stepping Up”

(If you're new here you can read the article describing my project.)

Summary:  PT work (one-legged balancing, strengthening, etc.) continues with no issues.  I’m doing 30 min on the elliptical every-other-day.  My first attempt at jumping rope at the beginning of the week was too much – had to back off.  And a Rolfing ten-series was begun.

The PT exercises are going well.  I’m most definitely making progress on keeping my feet calm when I do the one-legged squat/balance described in last week’s report.  The most noticeable movement (which I’m trying to eliminate) is Anterior Tibialis.  Once I get up on one leg and let things get settled the foot stays quite calm.  I’m also still doing the hip strengthening work.  As I said in previous posts the Pose book has tons of exercises.  The two I’m doing are 1) bending over in the classic toe-touching stance (I know…….I know……it may not be the best for the back – but I’m doing it anyway) and move one leg out to the side (abduction) as high as possible and 2) starting in the same stance but moving the leg straight out behind me.  The leg remaining on the floor does all the work.  It’s surprisingly difficult, although I can tell I’m building strength because they’re getting easier.

The elliptical work is going great (from the standpoint of my feet handling it well) and horribly (from the standpoint it’s so pitifully boring).  (One of the things I do is download podcasts from the Tom Martino radio show.  Tom is the host of a local radio talk show that focuses on consumer problems.  I’ve been listening to him for years.  Having something more than music to occupy the brain helps a lot.)  I don’t get it – while I don’t enjoy treadmill running I’d much rather do that than the elliptical.  But I’ll put up with the boredom if it means my feet are getting used to moving.

At the beginning of the week I jumped rope for 5 min.  (Not continuous – if I missed a jump or was out of breath I’d pause long enough to get my breath back – then I’d start again.)  It kind of surprised me how long 5 minutes was.  Well, the next day my feet told me that was too much.  So on my non-elliptical days I haven’t been doing anything.  It took a few days but my feet returned to no pain.  Today I did a very little rope jumping.  We’ll see how it goes this week.

I also did Session #1 of something I haven’t yet reported on here:  Getting Rolfed.  I’ve decided to go through the Rolfing ten session series.  It sounded fascinating before I started – and the first session alone confirmed that.  When I tell people I’m doing this everyone has responded with "That’s really painful!  Why would you do that?!”  Well – it turns out that reputation of pain, while true in the past, is now not so well deserved.  I did some research and found words such as “intense” and “some discomfort”.   The bottom line is that the Rolf Institute has developed some new techniques over the years which makes the process less painful. 

It was “intense” at times.  However the Rolfer I’m seeing (and I’m sure others are similar) encourage frequent feedback and, if it’s too intense, they have ways to make it less so.  The first session focuses on some of the superficial fascia that needs releasing.  It also focuses on primarily the upper body.  I have to say that when I was done I felt:

• Very relaxed
• My body/chest felt very “free” and “larger”.
• My arms and the way they hung from my body felt very relaxed and loose

I’m really looking forward to future sessions.  My next appointment (which focuses on the foundation – feet and calves – very apropos given my situation) probably won’t happen until after the first of the year.

Jim

Remember:  “Running is a privilege.”