Wife Mother Runner chiropractor Archives

How To Heal A Sprained Ankle And Not End Your Running Career

June 29, 2018

I sprained my ankle while running on May 11th. I immediately iced it and started RICE therapy. I also used a combination of frankincense, cypress, peppermint and lemongrass essential oils to help reduce the swelling. I took off several weeks from running and I saw my chiropractor a month after it happened. He said I should have seen him sooner. There are exercises he gave me which I should have started soon after to my injury to help me with my mobility.

When I first tried the exercises in his office I couldn’t believe, that even though my ankle felt ok, I really couldn’t bear weight the way I should be able to. I thought my ankle still looked a little puffy; but I thought it was my imagination. When he took a look at it he said there still was some swelling. I was surprised. I figured it was almost four weeks since it happened, I can walk on it without issues, so I was just going to give it another two weeks before I ran again.

Doctor’s orders – no running yet. I have to continue to ice and heat to get the swelling down and the blood flowing back in that area; and I was told to do the two exercises he showed me without assistance. I did them because I wanted to run again, sooner rather than later.

What Happens When You Sprain Your Ankle?

When you sprain an ankle there are nerve endings that get damaged from the stretch of the tendons. Just because you can walk again without pain or the swelling has gone down, doesn’t mean you are completely healed. My doctor explained that there are three ligaments on the outside of the ankle. When those ligaments are strained or torn, the nerve ending are also affected by it.

He had me stand on one leg and balance myself and then raise to my toes with that leg only. Then when I did that on my injured ankle, I was completely wobbly and could barely raise myself onto my toes. I was shocked at how much mobility and stability I had lost. I had to rebuild the strength in that area of my ankle. I also had to help the nerves heal so that my running gait wouldn’t be affected.

I continued the exercises for the next two weeks and also just did my Beach Body workout programs while I wasn’t running to continue my strength training. Especially for my glutes and hamstrings.

Not Running Made Me Crazy

All during the time that I couldn’t run, my mood and energy level dropped. I really missed running. I bet if I read any earlier blog posts of mine where I had an injury I had the same feeling. This time when I took the time off to heal I didn’t try to run through it like I had in the past. I really needed to NOT RUN. I had to listen to my body and my doctor. I’m glad I did.

How To Get Back Into Running After An Injury

After taking the required time to heal, doing the prescribed exercises and icing and heating my sprain, my doctor was happy with the strength I showed in my last visit a week ago. He told me I could start running again. But that didn’t mean I could get out and run like I used to.

Getting back into running after an injury requires patience and the following:

Lower your intervals to a shorter run time than prior to your injury. Instead of running 30/30 I went to 15/30
Don’t worry about your speed. Right now you have to focus on maintaining good form and you can’t get caught up in your head about how much speed you may have lost during your time off.
Don’t worry about your distance. Same concept with speed, you are going to have to build your mileage back up again. Follow the rule of 10% more each week. Anything more than that, and you are asking for trouble.
Listen to your body. If anything is starting to hurt again, STOP. Listen to your body and make adjustments accordingly.

My chiropractor told me that several people ruin their running career after an ankle sprain because they don’t give themselves sufficient time to heal. Ankles are tough. If you get a sprain it can sometimes be the end if you don’t take care of it.

I’m happy to be back out on the road again, despite the current heat wave we are experiencing. I’m going to enjoy the miles I can start accumulating and work on my goals for the upcoming months.

The Shoes Are Telling Me The Story

May 22, 2016

I have been having issues lately with some nagging injuries in my hip and knee. I finally decided to abandon a newer pair of shoes that I just started using on April 1 and went into a pair that is two models older.

I run in Nike LunarGlides. The pair that I noticed problems with was their model 5 (pink shoes on the left). I brought them to my chiropractor along with my new pair (the model 3) and he agreed with me that the model 5 could very well be a culprit for my recent issues.

At first glace of them, he saw he toe box bending upwards and commented on how wide the toe box was. That was also the first thing I noticed when i compared the model 3 to the model 5. I often switch between the model 3 and the model 5, favoring the model 3 because of the construction of the shoe. As I think back now, I ran the Marine Corp Marathon wearing the model 5 shoe and I had a very hard time with that race because of issues with my IT band acting up. During the Dopey challenge in January, I alternated shoes. I’ll have to see if I can determine which model I wore for the marathon for that race.

But it goes to show that just because you buy the same brand and model of shoe, each make is different. I like the support that the model 3 offers. They have a harder side support and an extra hole to allow you to use marathon lacing to keep your heel from sliding up the back of the shoe. The model 5 does not offer that. The model 5 also seemed to allow my foot to move around more in the shoe. As soon as I went out for my first run in the new model 3 shoes, I felt a big difference. First I felt it in my right calf muscle. But that was gone after the first mile. I feel much better support now in the shoes.

But after talking with my chiropractor he mentioned getting re-fitted for running shoes. When I started running in Nike LunarGlides it was because I was fitted at a running store back in 2012. Since then I haven’t run in any other brand of shoe. Dr. Pat mentioned that we change over time and it’s good to go to a different store and make the investment to purchase a pair from them after being fitted again to see what they recommend and to try out a different shoe to see how it feels.

It’s interesting to see how beat up the pink shoes look and I have only worn them for just about a month. I know that in the past when I wore a model 3 versus other models, I had better support with those shoes. I’ll have to look back in my notes now to see if when I was having injury issues, if I can relate it to the model I was running in. With my Garmin 220 you can keep track of your gear that you wear during your run. I started doing that now so I can keep track of the mileage as well as any issues I might encounter.

I Started Doing Yoga!

February 26, 2016

During my last visit with my AMAZING chiropractor, he mentioned that his practice is starting to hold yoga classes and the recommended that I give it a try to help with my core and balance. I thought that was a great idea because the day and time of the class works well with my schedule, I trust him and what he recommends for my wellness and back health and I have been on a quest for a more holistic approach to my wellness and health by using essential oils and now yoga would be a great complement to that approach. My mom also heard about the class and mentioned that she was thinking of doing it as well so we both signed up.

The day of my first yoga class was an extremely stressful day at work. Two hours before class I had come into a very high stress situation and was very upset. I didn’t want that bad energy to come with me into the class and I was hoping that the yoga would give me the relief I needed of that stress and anger that I was holding on to.

The yoga instructor started with us by explaining what yoga is and talking about how we need to take care of ourselves. To use the practice of yoga as a time of healing ourselves. Looking inward for peace rather than outward. Use your breath, body and mind to unite yourself. Harmonizing your body and mind with breathing, posture and meditation is the soul purpose of doing yoga, as well as making your body and balance stronger.

After she talked to us she had us find a comfortable position for sitting and focus on our breathing and become aware of how we breathe. Then she had us close our eyes and be still. Then we worked on laying on our backs and feeling our abdomen rise and fall with our breathing. As women, we typically take shorter breathes with our upper airway and don’t usually take deep breaths through our abdomen because when carrying children we didn’t have the space while we were pregnant. So we practiced taking a deeper slower breath and it calms your heart rate down.

Then she helped us practice opening up our hips because as Americans we sit too long in our chairs and our cars and our every day life. After some gently stretching we worked on opening up our shoulders and then we stood up to begin working on balance and posture with a tree pose and a warrior pose. After doing these exercises we got back down on the floor to lay down and get focused on breathing again and having quiet time to meditate and relax.

I really enjoyed the class. I felt calm afterwards and when I got home to the house with the kids all fired up and loud, I sent them outside to burn off their energy. I was hoping to try to do the exercises at home during the week; but I did take the practice of what she taught up regarding self-awareness and used it when I could to remain calm during situations that would have stressed me out. I made myself aware of what I was feeling and then rather than tensing up my body I was making sure that I was breathing and also opening up the areas that I tend to tense up.

I can’t wait for the next class. I also told my husband that I think this would be a great class for him to help him unwind and learn to quiet his mind. If i can quiet my mind for even just and hour, then I think he might be able to as well. I can’t sit still. When it’s nice weather out and we sit on our deck to relax I can only last about 5 minutes in the lounge chair before I start to get antsy and need to do things.

What I really enjoyed about the class was not just the exercises themselves but the practice of being aware of every part of your body. We felt our muscles from our toes, up our legs, to our hips and then throughout our shoulders and fingers. We let our head relax and did neck curls to release tension from our neck from holding our head up all day long. I think learning to be present is going to be key to this class. We are so busy with work, kids, emails, messages, all of the “noise” in life that it makes it very hard to remain present. I think this is going to help me with that, or at least raise my awareness of it so that I may think twice about how I manage my time, my stress, my projects and my health and family.

I’ll keep you posted of the progress for the next 6 weeks!

Tools To Help My Back

June 6, 2015

I would first of all like to thank Tamara Ingram for bringing this desk to my attention. She had ordered it and posted about it on FaceBook. I was immediately in love with it. Then when it arrived and she posted a picture of it assembled in her home I ordered it right away from Amazon. It is the Techni Mobili Mobile Laptop MDF Cart with Storage.

I have a bad back. I had to begin seeing my chiropractor over five years ago when I picked up my daughter and my back went out on me. It felt like someone walked up behind me and hit me with a taser gun in my back. I was anti-chiropractor for many, many years. But after I saw him and he helped get me back on my feet again I truly believe in the practice. It is because of Dr. Pat that I have been able to continue to run despite having such a bad back.

Recently, because of work and some projects I have been working on at home, I have been sitting too much. Sitting is the new smoking epidemic. There was a recent magazine report in Runners World I believe, that talked about how you can be an avid, active runner and run 7 miles a day; but once you get to work, you sit. But first, you drive to work, then you sit once you are there. Then you drive home, maybe work out, and then site on the couch.

Dr. Pat and I were talking about how the Fitbit is great for letting us know how active we are, but there should be a sitbit to make us aware of how inactive we are and to force us to get up and move around. I have fallen victim to too much sitting this week while working on a few projects. Because of that my back which was already acting up last week, gave me more trouble. I ordered this desk for when my husband finishes up our new room and office; I will have a standing work station. When I work from home I stand at the kitchen counter and work. But sometimes I will move my laptop to the kitchen table and sit and work. That’s my bad and I have to not do that or not do it for as long. However, at the end of the day when the family is watching America’s Got Talent and I want to still work on my blog or other research, I don’t want to shut myself out from the rest of the family. So now I can wheel this cute desk into the living room and still stand while I work!

The desk has wheels, a small footprint, a nice wood grain appearance and the top desk platform can be raised and lowered based on your height requirements. It also has some storage cubbies with shelves.

So thank you Tamara for sharing this and helping my save my back but still be able to work and spend time with my family!

Tag: chiropractor