Hi Anita and other people who have foot pain!
I have read Divided Mind and I have read your story. I am very inspired by your story.
Foot problems. And how I managed them.
My foot arches collapsed a little and cause "plantar fascitiis." I wore foot orthotics. It gave pain relief but the plantar fascitiis would come back every few months or so.
And with that problem, other problems started to appear. Knee pain, hip pain, and shin splints, and stiff calves. No matter how I foam rolled, or rolled with a lacrosse ball and stretched it with a monster band, the muscles remained stiff as ever. After a two years of going on like this, I came across the Divided Mind just a few days ago. Other pains in my body relaxed (shoulder pain) immediately after reading the book. Maybe because of my meditation training and yoga experience that made me receptive to the ideas of the book or the less severity of my structural problems of my body. Regardless, it just happened.
Then I had an Aha moment when I was driving my car. I remember when I was a little girl. I have a small transgression where I was afraid that my parent would scold me. That parent was at work so I had an afternoon of worrying. That worrying caused my legs and my body to become stiff as I could not walk and bend my knees. My nanny comforted me as I cried I cannot move. And then slowly, the numbness and stiffness subsided and then I was able to move after she consoled me and massaged me.
Then I thought to myself that maybe, it was my fear of pain due to a previous episode of pain that was causing the 'plantar fascitiis' and a host of other leg pains that cause the muscles to stiffen up. I thought that maybe, if I let go of the fear (and thus stiffness) and just walk without foot orthotics, it would be okay. And walk for 3 kilometres I did. Simple.
I have many fears that the feet and legs was difficult to get well because it is unable to rest as it was always standing or walking. Unlike the shoulders, where it is not so much load bearing like the legs. It was a wrong notion or conditioning. It was the stiffness of the muscles that was make them weak and thus unable to walk.
So when I feel muscle stiffness in the legs, or a little bit of knee pain. I would write an entry in my journal what can be bothering me and my muscles would feel relaxed. Much like what my nanny did to comfort me when I was a little girl.
I also found I was tensing up and not breathing properly (chest breathing not belly breathing) so the cells are not properly oxygenated.
But of course, like a sportsman or olympian, as much as I am able to do these things, I also relapse and may not pay attention from time to time and fail to do them. I just take that to experience and just try again.
Anyway, the point of this post is that the stiffness of the muscles can cause them to become weak, can cause it to become imbalance with other muscles so it is hard to stand and walk. The nerves can cause it to relax and contract. The nerves can cause it to constantly become contracted and become weak. So maybe consciously relaxing and contracting your foot and leg muscles might relieve the stiffness and foot difficulties in addition to addressing the disturbing thoughts and feelings which is also a big contributor or muscle pain.
Please ask me to clarify if you cannot understand parts of this post.
I am a Katy Bowman fan so Biomechanics is part of the explanation.
Muscles that are forever contracted become weak as waste materials from the cells cannot go away from the area and can cause muscle pain.
Muscle movement is the only way to move waste products away (lymph node circulation) aside from blood circulation which also need movement.
Muscle need to contract and relax to be strong and to facilitate waste product removal.
Emotions can cause muscles to become constantly contracted.
The stiffness of the muscles can be relaxed by contracting and relaxing them actively. Massage is contracting and relaxing them passively. If you have a full range of motion, move the joint around until there is circulation, then you can put your weight on it (foot or leg).
Here, I am guessing that the swelling are the lymph node fluids unable to away from the aching part because it cannot circulate back up. Maybe an MD can explain further if my guess is correct or not.
As for inflammation, I have fibromyalgia. Everything was normal but my blood showed inflammation to be positive. It was a sign that made my rheumatologist gave me a fibromylagia diagnosis in addition to 14 tender points.
Again, just remembering my 'aha' moment made those tender points disappear. I guess from my subjective point of view, it is again related to muscle stiffness and again nerve activating the muscle causing it to become constantly stiff. That is how I figure it out and it works for me whether the theory is correct or not i don't know.
But I would also be interested to know how emotions and stress can cause inflammation in the body and can cause muscle pain and other IBS and other syndrome.
I hope the foot suggestion helps.
I have read Divided Mind and I have read your story. I am very inspired by your story.
Foot problems. And how I managed them.
My foot arches collapsed a little and cause "plantar fascitiis." I wore foot orthotics. It gave pain relief but the plantar fascitiis would come back every few months or so.
And with that problem, other problems started to appear. Knee pain, hip pain, and shin splints, and stiff calves. No matter how I foam rolled, or rolled with a lacrosse ball and stretched it with a monster band, the muscles remained stiff as ever. After a two years of going on like this, I came across the Divided Mind just a few days ago. Other pains in my body relaxed (shoulder pain) immediately after reading the book. Maybe because of my meditation training and yoga experience that made me receptive to the ideas of the book or the less severity of my structural problems of my body. Regardless, it just happened.
Then I had an Aha moment when I was driving my car. I remember when I was a little girl. I have a small transgression where I was afraid that my parent would scold me. That parent was at work so I had an afternoon of worrying. That worrying caused my legs and my body to become stiff as I could not walk and bend my knees. My nanny comforted me as I cried I cannot move. And then slowly, the numbness and stiffness subsided and then I was able to move after she consoled me and massaged me.
Then I thought to myself that maybe, it was my fear of pain due to a previous episode of pain that was causing the 'plantar fascitiis' and a host of other leg pains that cause the muscles to stiffen up. I thought that maybe, if I let go of the fear (and thus stiffness) and just walk without foot orthotics, it would be okay. And walk for 3 kilometres I did. Simple.
I have many fears that the feet and legs was difficult to get well because it is unable to rest as it was always standing or walking. Unlike the shoulders, where it is not so much load bearing like the legs. It was a wrong notion or conditioning. It was the stiffness of the muscles that was make them weak and thus unable to walk.
So when I feel muscle stiffness in the legs, or a little bit of knee pain. I would write an entry in my journal what can be bothering me and my muscles would feel relaxed. Much like what my nanny did to comfort me when I was a little girl.
I also found I was tensing up and not breathing properly (chest breathing not belly breathing) so the cells are not properly oxygenated.
But of course, like a sportsman or olympian, as much as I am able to do these things, I also relapse and may not pay attention from time to time and fail to do them. I just take that to experience and just try again.
Anyway, the point of this post is that the stiffness of the muscles can cause them to become weak, can cause it to become imbalance with other muscles so it is hard to stand and walk. The nerves can cause it to relax and contract. The nerves can cause it to constantly become contracted and become weak. So maybe consciously relaxing and contracting your foot and leg muscles might relieve the stiffness and foot difficulties in addition to addressing the disturbing thoughts and feelings which is also a big contributor or muscle pain.
Please ask me to clarify if you cannot understand parts of this post.
I am a Katy Bowman fan so Biomechanics is part of the explanation.
Muscles that are forever contracted become weak as waste materials from the cells cannot go away from the area and can cause muscle pain.
Muscle movement is the only way to move waste products away (lymph node circulation) aside from blood circulation which also need movement.
Muscle need to contract and relax to be strong and to facilitate waste product removal.
Emotions can cause muscles to become constantly contracted.
The stiffness of the muscles can be relaxed by contracting and relaxing them actively. Massage is contracting and relaxing them passively. If you have a full range of motion, move the joint around until there is circulation, then you can put your weight on it (foot or leg).
Here, I am guessing that the swelling are the lymph node fluids unable to away from the aching part because it cannot circulate back up. Maybe an MD can explain further if my guess is correct or not.
As for inflammation, I have fibromyalgia. Everything was normal but my blood showed inflammation to be positive. It was a sign that made my rheumatologist gave me a fibromylagia diagnosis in addition to 14 tender points.
Again, just remembering my 'aha' moment made those tender points disappear. I guess from my subjective point of view, it is again related to muscle stiffness and again nerve activating the muscle causing it to become constantly stiff. That is how I figure it out and it works for me whether the theory is correct or not i don't know.
But I would also be interested to know how emotions and stress can cause inflammation in the body and can cause muscle pain and other IBS and other syndrome.
I hope the foot suggestion helps.
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Because they are not disappearing quickly, it's hard to accept them as such sometimes....and because they are appearing ON TOP OF, not INSTEAD OF my original issue, it is also distressing. But your posts assure me that this is a temporary state, and to keep on going. That was the message I needed to hear this morning when I was thinking, "oh my everything hurts, maybe I shouldn't try running again..."
