A Sprained Finger

Of course, playing Ultimate Frisbee means you will incur a few injuries. Bruises, scrapes, strained muscles, etc. are pretty normal. Last season I was plagued with plantar fasciitis, this year my injury was a sprained finger. After reaching back to grab a disc that was behind me, it caught my finger and pulled it back. Way back. I felt a pop and then pain. I knew it wasn't broken, but definitely sprained.

A trip to the local doctor confirmed this. Haha, that's a funny story. I went to the Dankook University hospital because it's on campus, and I get a discount for being a Dankook employee. Win-win right? Well, I went to the reception and asked to see a doctor. After getting an English translator on the phone, to whom I explained the injury, the receptionist refused to let me see a regular doctor that day. She kept saying 'Doctor, opsoyeo' which means there are none. But tomorrow, she said, finger specialist. All I needed was a proper splint (I had fashioned myself a makeshift one already out of cardboard and tape, but I needed a real one) and perhaps an x-ray to ensure there wasn't a fracture. Apparently this was not possible without a specialist's expertise.

So the next day I go to where she booked my appointment and I arrive at a sign that says 'ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY' - wait what?! All I needed was a splint and I got sent to a surgeon. In Canada, this would have taken months to get in, but here I only waited until the next day. Despite my hesitation, the doctor was really nice and he spoke English. The x-ray showed that the tendon had pulled away from the bone (over stretched) and he wanted to give it time to heal. He was very impressed with my makeshift splint and couldn't believe I had made it myself (it would seem no one in Korea takes health care into their own hands). He taped up my finger to a splint and advised me not to use it and come back in 2 weeks so he could show me 'finger exercises'.

Two weekends of Ultimate later (yes, I had to keep playing!), I went back to him. He took my splint off and buddied my middle finger to the ring finger to stop it from twisting. The joint was very stiff, but after stretching it all weekend (and playing some more ultimate - hehe) it is feeling better! Not 100%, but I can almost make a fist on my own. Hurray!

 Middle finger sprain!

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!

Valentine's Day!

Not a day we have celebrated in the past (*cough* JM forgot), we decided to get dolled up this year and go out for a nice pre-Valentine's dinner in Cheonan before I left for Thailand. What started out lovely, ended up with me face planting on the icy sidewalk. But more about that later ...

We headed out to A Bis, a fancy Italian restaurant in Cheonan that has a unique atmosphere. The building is a house. A HOUSE. There are no houses in Korea that are traditional by western standards, but this building looks like a house/chalet from the Swiss Alps. And so, it became an Italian restaurant. The inside was so cute, with lots of period decor. We ordered a pasta and a salad to share and I was pleasantly surprised. The cheese was good, and the pasta was not over cooked (I like it al dente).

On the way home from our romantic dinner, my fears were realized. In Cheonan, the genius planners decided to line the sidewalk with marble. Yes, slippery when wet marble. So in the winters, or when it rains, the edge of the sidewalk is especially slippery. And you can imagine that on a fancy date night, I ate it pretty hard off the edge of the sidewalk and onto my knees. I could barely walk after and I had tears streaming down my face. Sadly, the evening was kind of ruined. But the dinner was good! :)

I love you Jean-Marc-y!

Fancied up!