[Gemme]

Originally Posted by nycfem

Today I walked 10K to the shoe store and back and through the park. It was the first time I was in a store since the pandemic. I bought Saucony brand shoes (Hurricane 22). I bought 2 pairs of the store's brand of socks because I always wear double socks. I wore my new shoes and socks home. When I got home my decades old foot injury (left foot sesamoid fracture) was really bothering me, perhaps more so than ever. Ugh, I can't tell you how upsetting this is to me. I think this means I MUST take a break from my walks because... what if I fracture it again? I'm so frustrated because I was really loving my 10K per day walks. It's not like I can switch over to swimming or something different because of the pandemic. My walks were getting me outside and so mentally and physically healing after four months of being inside. Maybe I should truly rest my feet for a week. And then on August 9th BB and I go to the beach again for a week, so does that mean I shouldn't do my 10K on the sand by the water- which I love? I hate dealing with injury, but I know I need to watch it because I've never had this original injury act up the way it has been in 20 years. It sucks not having the gym where I could have been mixing my exercise up so as not to be putting such repetitive pressure on my feet. Feel free to offer suggestions. I will definitely try to only wear Thorlos socks which are great for feet. Wearing the store brand socks could not have helped. Maybe I could give it a few days rest and then just walk to the park with my weights and do yoga and ground exercises. I really have to get creative. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.

I'm glad your foot is feeling better now! Don't forget that you went from not much physical activity on your feet to a ton in a short amount of time. The barefoot walking just compounded that, I bet. I'm glad that you've gotten into a rhythm and your old injury seems to have calmed down.

My coworker had surgery in March because an injury at work (she rolled her foot on an uneven surface) aggravated a birth defect in one of her feet. She was born with one of the bones that are usually attached to something just floating around. Until the injury aggravated it, it never bothered her. They tried a boot for weeks but it got worse and then the pandemic started to darken the horizon so she decided this was the best time to be out of work for a couple of months and she was right. The hospital she had the surgery at stopped all elective surgeries 2 days after hers.

The point of the story is that a small aggravation can cause a big tadoo down the road and I'm glad that you're feeling better and you found your sweet spot again. I wouldn't count out the new shoes, though. As much as you are walking, you'll wear your Asics down even if you switch out the insoles for new gel ones. They say runners get 400-600 miles on their shoes. I tend to double that number if I'm just walking since the stress on them is far less than running so that would be 800-1200 miles of walking before looking at replacing the shoes or at the very least, changing out the insoles.

Plus, I'm a fan of Saucony because of my duck feet. I have wide toes and a narrow heel and Saucony and New Balance are really the only shoes that I can wear for exercise long term.

As a side note, did you elevate and ice your foot when it was hurting? That would have helped too.