Darn them Feet!

When I hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2000, I had only one problem with my feet the entire 5-months I was out there.  After I hiked the 100-Mile Wilderness through Maine, I developed a horrible stiffness and pain along the top of my foot.  I had no idea why it was giving me problems.  I ran into someone out there on the trail who told me that I was suffering from muscle compartment syndrome.  

What?  Allegedly, the lining around a muscle in my foot failed to expand as my muscle swelled inside my boot each day.  I am not sure if I suffered from muscle compartment syndrome, but whatever the case, the pain went away in my foot by the time I got to Andover, Maine.

In the five months I spent on the Pacific Crest Trail I remember getting a blister on the tops of my heels near the achilles tendon.  I had purchased a new pair of socks in Ashland, Oregon, and for some strange reason, after I hiked in them for 15 or so miles, my New Balance 806's starter to blister and eventually scrape the skin off my heels.  Ouch!  I remember that really hurt.  I put duct tape on both my heels and I ditched the new socks when I got to Bend, Oregon.

Back in August, I was sparring in Hapkido, and did a front leg lick, and my big toe squarely hit my opponent's elbow.  I limped away from that sparring session in a lot of pain.  I thought I had jammed the toe really well, but then I thought I must have broken it.  I did get out and hike a stretch of the PCT over Labor Day weekend, and my toe felt fine.

However, recently pain has been flaring up at the base of my big toe.  So, I went to UCSF Medical Center to have it examined, and the x-rays turned up nothing.  The nurse practitioner told me that I might be experiencing some arthritis in that joint, or that I am feeling pain from an inflamed tendon.  I don't think that is the problem.  Something is just not right in the joint at the base of my big toe.  The nurse practitioner did say that it might not be a bad idea to wear some stiff soled shoes and to give my foot rest for a month.  I am thinking that is what I might do.  

It is amazing how much we take our feet for granted.  I have been told that feet are some of the most complex structures on our bodies.  With all their complexities, it is amazing that feet are not injured more.  However, if one spends enough time on his/her feet, I imagine that they must get strengthened to prevent injury (at least that has been my philosophy!).  Well, let's hope that my toe can get better, and give me strength and patience to take a month off of physical exercise to let it heal.  After all, I got a lot more hiking to do!