I am unable to run at the moment due to peroneal tendinopathy which causes quite intense pain on the outer side of the foot below the ankle when putting any weight on the foot; even walking and standing is painful.. I have been told that it can take between 3 months and a year to resolve and is made worse by running, which is very discouraging. It came on quite suddenly even though I always warm up with dynamic stretches and cool down properly with static stretches, as well as doing a warm up and cool down walk. I do have some exercises to do but would welcome any advice from anyone who has suffered from this condition.
Many thanks
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Upsidaisy
Graduate
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Hi Upsidaisy I’m really sorry to hear this. I don’t have any specific advice for you but hope you get better soon. Tendons are notoriously slow to heal but they will get there given time and careful management. A close friend of mine is also struggling with weight bearing and walking. She has fibromyalgia and suffers with terrible foot and ankle pain as well as arthritis in her big toe. She gets most of her exercise from water aerobics and swimming which helps her stay fit. Is this something that you feel might help in your situation? Good luck 👍
Thank you RunBrianRun, what a great suggestion to keep fit by swimming! I think one of the things I am struggling with most is the thought of losing the fitness I have built up from following this fantastic programme. Best wishes to your friend and well done to her for doing all she can to keep fit in spite of her health issues.
Rotten luck, I had this about a year or so ago. It takes a while to heal but it will get better if you rest and do all the exercises you've been given. I think it took about 6-8 weeks for mine to heal. There is no way to speed it up but if you are tempted to overdo it you'll slow the healing process.
I was told my problem was probably down to the shoes I was wearing which were so old and worn out they were no longer giving the right support.
Take some consolation that by the time you recover the weather should be better. It might be a good idea to have a gait analysis and get some properly fitted shoes before you start again.
Get well soon!
PS if you want a laugh there's a really funny video doing the rounds about a midwifery student misunderstanding a request to 'show the class' where the peroneal tendon is 🤭🤣
Thank you Yesletsgo, it’s good to hear that you have recovered from this injury and that it didn’t take as long as I feared, although I appreciate that everyone is different and recovery times will vary. I have had a gait analysis (neutral gait) and wear Brooks Ghost shoes, which I find really comfortable and supportive but they are almost a year old and maybe it’s time to replace them. I shall certainly look up that video and I’m sure it will cheer me up no end!
The physio took one look at my old shoes, folded them in half and told me to get new ones. If yours are like this it's probably time to downgrade them to walking shoes only.
Now's a really good time to buy new ones in the sale, this way you'll be all ready to go once you're better
🍏🤗🤗Oh so very hard & disappointing for you! You have been doing all the right things and it must feel very unfair! Lots of good advice already given below but want to let you know I feel for you having had foot problems myself. It may be worth discussing with your GP a referral to an orthopaedic podiatrist. They were extremely helpful to me.
Hopefully if you have a complete rest from running, frustrating as it is, do the exercises you will have been given it will get better sooner rather than later.
Lots of thoughts in all the replies to mull over. Take one day at a time and please let us know how you get on. Take care!
Thank you Annieapple for your comforting and supportive reply. I shall certainly ask my GP for the referral you suggest, I’m sure an expert in foot mechanics would really make a difference to my recovery and I will keep everyone informed on how it goes.
Big hugs, I've had it after a foot injury, it's painful and frustrating. Do the exercises regularly, but not to the point of causing pain. Some of the early exercises I was given seemed almost pointless they were so gentle, but of course it was the start of a slow build up. As you recover, check out the strength building exercises for runners on Health& flex, things like squats, hamstring and calf stretches. Build up the overall leg strength to take some of the strain off the foot.
An unexpected injury like that is often caused by one part of the body overcompensating for a weakness elsewhere, that's why these other exercises are important.
I agree with getting a gait analysis, I did that and got new trainers after my most recent injury, and they made a world of difference.
I've been ill for a few weeks and trailing around in my old slippers, and I can feel the ache in my foot as a result, so I'm going to have to act on my own advice now I'm feeling better and dust off those exercises.
Thank you for all your good advice, I shall certainly follow it. I’m sure you’re right about injury often resulting from a weakness elsewhere so I’ll be more diligent about the strength and flex aspect of running safely and its importance in warding off injury in the future. I always have the best intentions of incorporating some of these exercises into my daily routine but I’m not always as diligent about it as I should be! I recently had a nasty cold and perhaps I should have got back into running a bit more gently after it but I almost carried on where I left off and perhaps that was part of the problem. Knowing others have been where I am and have recovered really helps. Thank you so much.
You're welcome. These viruses really affect the body for weeks afterwards, so I'm not surprised you're recovering from one. (I'm also terrible at sticking to routines so I'm on the naughty step with you there!)😜
I haven’t had this specific injury but a lot of last year was spent recovering from a different one. Mentally, it was really tough. I had to change my mindset from “I am an injured runner” to “I am a recovering runner” and really focusing on everything. I could do to help that recovery process.
The thing that helped most was having a physio involved who I really trusted and who understood how miserable it was not being able to run as I wanted to. He was wonderful, apart from the horrible sports massages!! Knowing that it would get better in time made such a difference-I saw some stats about how many people recover after 8 weeks, 3 months, whatever and the last one said 100% of people will be better after a certain period of time. That gave me hope that even if it was a slow process, I would get there in the end.
It’s also helpful to remember that setbacks are normal and you haven’t gone back to where you were when the injury happened. It’s just part of the recovery process. You may find (as I did) that long term, this injury will make you a much stronger runner. I’ve taken a big chunk off my 5k time as a totally unexpected side effect from the strength work I had to do to get running pain free again! Plus, it really does make you appreciate the runs you’re able to do when you’re ready.
Really good luck to you. Most of us seem to end up on the injury couch with one thing and another. You’ve got so many run buddies here who get it, even if it’s not quite the same as your particular injury. Lots of virtual hugs to you ❤️
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply at length and in such a positive way. I love your advice to consider myself ‘a recovering runner, rather than an injured one’ and to concentrate on what I can do to make myself stronger.
I am glad to hear that you are doing so much better now and that a positive mindset can make all the difference. Thanks again 😊
It’s nice to be mainly out of the other side now (I still feel a bit nervous about saying that!). Occasional grumbles but I know what to do now. Having a positive mindset doesn’t mean you can’t have a good old moan here amongst friends!
Oldfloss is hosting catch up corner this month. That’s always a lovely thread to drop in on for some encouragement. She’s got a lot of helpful thoughts on injury and illness too. I love her accept and adapt motto.
I had pain in the top of my left foot in the big toe tendon area. Later my heel was, still is numb and my big toe and two adjacent toes were, still are numb. The pain in the top of my foot lasted 4-5 months. The numbness I still have after 9 months. I saw a foot specialist, he said my foot was fine after three MRI’s. I saw a neurologist who tested my peroneal nerve electrically and said it was fine but the pain I had was probably caused by the peroneal nerve being damaged at some point. It’s now about 10 months since the top of the foot pain started. Time will heal I hope!
I forgot to say the pain in the top of my foot came on very suddenly. I wonder whether I crushed the peroneal nerve while sleeping. One to way to crush the nerve is to cross your knees a lot. The root of the nerve is in the knee joint area. I also tried physiotherapy several times but that was ineffective.
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Graduates, are you still doing your 5 minutes warm up walk and cool down?
so here I am again 🎶 😄🏃🏻♀️🐌🍁
Educating Enid - Week 2 revisited: Importance of warm up stretches.
Very unfit, just started, back hurts!
Don't run cold 🥶 warm up 👍
