Preventative Care

After being plagued with plantar faciitis (PF) last spring during my ultimate season, which was so painful and caused me a lot of trouble walking, I decided to take action. Korea was lacking in medical things to give me the care I needed, so I turned to the next best source: the internet. haha.

Through my research, I learned that when we sleep we tend to relax the foot muscles and point our toes. What happens is that the muscle then stiffens in this relaxed state and when we wake up and step out of bed, the muscle stretches too much and micro tears are reformed, causing intense pain that will last the whole day. Stretching this muscle before stepping out of bed is a great way to loosen it, but over the course of the day (and standing for hours teaching), it over stretches and becomes painful. While there is no perfect remedy for PF, there are a combination of things one can try.

This summer, I bought many insoles for my shoes that are specifically meant to address PF. On Amazon.com I found a night brace to wear while I sleep and a support sock to wear while I am running/working out. Unfortunately, the items that I found would not ship to Canada or Korea, USA only. So I asked a friend if he would mind bringing a couple things back to Korea for me from the US. Thankfully he is a very light packer and he had room for my brace.

Because we have another ultimate season coming up, this is my attempt at preventative care. My foot has been feeling better since the summer, but I don't want to go through that PF hell from the spring ever again. So I've begun sleeping with this brace and wearing the sleeve when I work out - and it's working well! If anyone is experiencing PF, I highly recommend these products. In combination with stretching and squishy insole, my foot pain has decreased a lot. Hurray!

My remedies!

My first visit to a Korean doctor

After playing ultimate last weekend, I found my plantar fasciitis has flared up again. This time, worse than ever. I have been limping around unable to put full pressure on it. Walking on the side of my foot, straining my ankle and lower back, I finally hobbled over to the doctor's office in hopes that he could give me a brace or something.

The doctor confirmed my self diagnosis by telling me it was plantar fasciitis (without touching my foot! He's very intuitive). Then he prescribed me an anti-inflammatory, told me to keep off it, alternate between hot and cold packs, and wear soft shoes. No brace was recommended, but I'm going to order one on Amazon anyway. Just to sleep with and to support it. He also asked me if I had time for physical therapy (PT), to which I answered yes. I've been having trouble with my right foot since I moved to Korea and I thought some PT was exactly what I needed.

Doctor's form all in Korean - should I sign???

 
Little did I know, PT in Korea was not what I was expecting. There were no stretches or massaging of the muscle. Instead, they put me in a heating pad for 20 mins, then electrocuted my calf muscle (not even my foot!) with these suction cup things, and finally rubbed the sole of my foot with a gel and put me under a heat lamp. I have no idea what any of it was for, but as soon as I got off the bed, my foot was still throbbing like earlier.
 

Marks on my leg left behind from the electrocution cups

The one behind my knee tickled and hurt - I could stop giggling!

 
After leaving PT, I picked up my drugs, which always come in a pack with many unknown pills. The pharmacist said two of them were anti-inflammatories and the other two were digestives. Three times a day, for three days. $8.20 later ($5.40 for the doctor, $2.80 for the drugs, and apparently nothing for PT), I walked my confused self home and kept off of my foot for the night. Hopefully it feels better soon!

Pills

Let's go pound for pound

Moving to Korea is a life change. New country, new jobs, new friends - new lifestyle! Coming here I had it in mind that the entire lifestyle change would include a fitness change.

When Jean-Marc and I met last summer, we were both in much different shape. I was training for my first 10km race, so I was running 2-3 times a week and playing ultimate frisbee 3 nights a week .. plus the occasional softball game. I was feeling fit. Jean-Marc had spent a good deal of time playing tennis that summer and was also fit. When winter hit, we weren't working out as much and, well, I wrote a thesis. That comes with a lot of stress, emotional eating, boredom eating, top that with heavy Christmas food, and voila!  A recipe for disaster. With JM's slim body type, he lost weight because he wasn't working out (frig) and I packed on the pounds.

So last week we decided to shake things up a bit. We made a bet: pound for pound, whoever loses/gains the most by Christmas Day 2012 wins, and the other person has to pay for their Christmas vacation.

This weekend I joined a fitness group to start winning this bet. Flipside Fitness is an all girls group run by a fabulous lady from Ontario (I know - what are the chances?!) who puts her heart and soul into getting us in shape. She runs boxercise classes (read: intense butt kicking workouts) on the weekend and organizes events centered around health and being active throughout the month. I've only been a member a few days and already I feel empowered to take control of my life. Amy posts motivational quotes and information about eating well, as well as weekly fitness challenges and even a newsletter. It is a very active Facebook group.

I went to my first boxercise class on Saturday and what an intense workout it was. I don't think I've ever sweat that much in my life. Combining boxing with circuit training (yes, I put on a pair of boxing gloves for the first time in my life!), and you get a full body workout. It felt so great to exercise again.

Watch out ... we are pretty tough!

So there you have it. The bet is officially posted online. We'll keep you updated as to who is winning and what we are up to to achieve our goals. For now I'm going to go back to researching 5-star resorts in Tahiti for Christmas vacation. he he.

Looks good right?