Fine tuning.

All this biking, physical therapy stretching, calisthenics, stair climbing, and swimming has done wonders for my overall strength.  Still, my walking gate is far from smooth, and as I am learning through visits with the surgeons and orthotics' specialists, this has far more to do with bone & joint mechanics than muscle strength or even range of motion.

Based upon the physical clues mentioned in previous posts, it is clear that my right leg is shorter than my left leg, and my left foot is no longer flat but leans outward.  These two physical-structural-mechanical imbalances have caused a significant hitch in my stride.  It's as though I am walking along a railroad track, stepping up with my left foot on a rail that slants outward, and then stepping back down with my right to the bed of the track.  After observing my walk at a recent visit, the orthopedic surgeons gave me a referral to an orthotics' specialist who I visited last week.

We talked through the physical symptoms, they watched me walk, and they concluded a lift for my right foot and a wedge for outer portion of my left foot should help straighten things out.   Also, we talked about the ankle pain that has limited my walks to no more than six miles and/or two hours.  They suggested creating a custom-built clam-shell fiberglass ankle brace to hold my left ankle mostly motionless while walking, which would mimic fusing the ankle.  The braces straps will hold it firmly to my calf, so it will also transfer some of the impact load of walking from the heel/ankle to the upper calf.  This type of brace will fit inside a mountaineering boot, and fingers crossed, it will allow me to go further & longer.

At the follow-up appointment to create the caste for the brace and take accurate measurements for the lifts, the orthotics team determined my right foot needs a 5/8” heel lift and my left foot needs a 3/8” wedge on the outside edge to level it.  On a whim we measured the length of my feet, and it turns out my left foot has lost one-and-a-half shoe sizes!  Both feet used to be size 11.  Now my right foot is still an 11, but my left foot is a size 9.5. Crrrraaazzzy!! 

This will definitely improve my bragging rights when "comparing scars" with friends.

Gotta' love a bicycle, . . . and swimming pool!

These days I am biking to work just about every day (with a few exceptions) and I am loving it!  My body mechanics // chemistry thrive on cardio workouts, and I am so relieved to have found a ready source of physiological exercise that doesn’t cause debilitating pain in my ankles.  Gliding fast through beautiful outdoor scenery---akin to flying---is an added bonus.

It is interesting how quickly my psychology has shifted from finding rationales for driving to finding rationales for biking.  The same little voice inside that pushes me to achieve the summit of a climbing objective or accomplish one more lap during a workout now coaxes me to jump on the bike rather than strap on a car. 

When I first started biking, if the weather forecast indicated steady rain (with more than a ½ inch accumulation) then I may have reconsidered.  If I needed to stay especially late at The Mountaineers, I may have been tempted to drive instead.  If I needed to go somewhere after work, then shouldn’t I use a car?  Nope; all these impediments to biking are easily overcome.  Rain beads and slips off appropriate clothing.  It is easy to load a bike on the front of a Seattle Metro bus and commute home rather than riding in pitch black along the Burke Gilman Trail.  And usually there’s a decent bike route to any intermediate destination between The Mountaineers and home.

For example, last Friday afternoon after work I planned on commuting to REI in downtown Seattle to attend a conservation presentation about protecting The Methow River Headwaters region from a natural resource extraction project (a large open-pit copper mine).  Bad idea.  Anyway, in thinking through commute logistics, my first inclination was to drive to work, so that I could drive to REI, and afterward drive home to Ballard. 

Then the little voice began nagging, so I checked out Seattle Metro routes and determined I could bike to work, and then take Metro to REI and then home after the presentation.  The little voice continued to nag, so I checked out the bike route and distance between The Mountaineers and REI, and decided to bike the second leg as well, and then I could use Metro to get home.  But then after the presentation was over, there was still plenty of light, and the bike route and distance from REI to home was less than from The Mountaineers to REI, . . . so the little voice kicked in yet again, . . . and I biked home.  Yep, I am a glutton for cardio punishment!

So every weekday I bike to work which is a little more than twenty miles round trip.  Then, each morning, I spend twenty minutes on ankle range-of-motion physical therapy.  I stand next to a wall and lean forward as far as I can with legs straight and feet flat on the floor for 100 seconds, then I lean backward as far as I can for 100 seconds, and I do three reps of these stretches.  Then I do full rotations of my legs & upper body, circling through 360 degrees of ankle extension while keeping my feet flat on the floor.  Then I do knee bends, keeping my heels on the floor and lowering down as far as I can (last week I did full squats for the first time!).  I finish up with 40 toe raises, and finally I stay up on tip toes for 40 more seconds.  Ouch! 

That leaves Saturday & Sunday for my prior exercise routines.  On Saturdays I  do the full calisthenics workout (squats with heavy pack, pushups, and various other arm, core and leg exercises).  If the weather is nice I’ll bike to Golden Gardens beach and use a park picnic table as a workout platform (with an exercise mat for a little cushion comfort).  Working out with views Puget Sound, sunshine & blue skies, and budding spring cherry tree branches above is fantastic! 

On Sunday I do an hour of Golden Gardens Park stair climbing with heavy pack, and then afterward I go for a swim at the Ballard Community pool.  I try to get to the pool early enough to spend time in the hot tub with bubble jets playing on my back (aaahhh!) and my left ankle up and out of the hot water.  At this point I’m not really swimming, but doing what looks much more like an old-guy side-stroke or breast stroke, mostly because I don’t feel ready for full-out swimming just yet.  I do however, keep from touching the side or bottom of the pool for the hour that I swim, and that’s not too bad!