Summer of Pain, toe-art anatomy discussion
With all of the running and training that I've been doing lately, strange things have begun to happen to my body. Between the biking, running, and swimming, I'm putting more than 100 miles on my body in a typical week. The biking and swimming are pretty low-impact, so I'm placing most of the blame for what we're about to review on my running. And I can't just blame the running; I also have to put a little blame on myself for crashing violently into that planet a while back.
By and large, I can not complain about the way my body has been treating me this summer; I think it's holding up well. But my feet have become weird lately, or more specifically, my left foot has become weird. The tips of my toes on the left foot are a veritable art museum of cutaneous maladies. There are blisters. There are bruises. There are sections of toe that appear to be necrotic. Some of this is painful; some of it bothers me not at all—other than it being unsightly.
Why just the left foot? Well, that's where the quick 'n' dirty, topher-specific anatomy lesson comes in. A normal human foot, in a relaxed state, looks somewhat like the image to the right. The tarsals, metatarsals, and phalanges (phalanges in grey) are aligned in the foot's normal, arched position. This alignment differs from one person to another, based on their natural arch, but the drawing approximates a "healthy" foot.
As the foot moves through thousands of running strides, the positions of these bones change. The foot flexes and extends through each stride, and as it does, the bones move in relationship to one another. This movement is important.
While in the extension phase, the normal human foot resembles the image to the left. The phalanges articulate upon one another and also collectively with respect to the foot. The tips of the toes point upwards and the underside of the foot takes on a rounded shape that allows the runner to roll across the sole of the foot into the next stride.
In the normal human foot, this change of shape with each stride helps to absorb impact, protecting the runner's feet, ankles, knees, and the lower back.
In most respects, I must have learned to compensate for the fact that my left foot is not entirely normal, because my ankles, knees, and back are treating me pretty well. Sure, my left foot itself hurts constantly while I'm running. But it's mild. And I've had only mild knee pain so far this summer, and it hasn't persisted more than 48 hours when I have had it. So I won't complain too much about my foot.
But there is a particular peculiarity about my left foot that I believe is causing my toes to resemble an impressionist art gallery. Ever since my heel was reconstructed, the only toe I can completely extend on my left foot is my big toe. The outermost (or most distal) bone of my phalanges on all the other toes will not extend with respect to the others. When I extend my toes, this distal portion of my phalanges actually flexes, downward. It resembles something like the image to the right.
Until now, this really caused me no issue beyond its ongoing ability to insult my mild obsessive-compulsive bent. Of course, until now, I hadn't been running 40 - 50 miles a week.
Last saturday, I put my left foot through roughly 15,840 strides. And with each one, while the rest of my foot—and therefore, my shoe—was extending, four of my damn toes were flexing, into the shoe. Hence, the tips of those toes are all screwed up.
But, it's all part of my Summer of Pain, which is intended to raise money for the Wisconsin Make-A-Wish Foundation. I'm swimming, biking, running, getting hit by cars, and doing toe maintenance to help children with terminal illnesses chase their dreams. Please consider making a donation. It's painless and free of pedal cutaneous art, for you.
Thanks,
topher
Note: My jokes about my foot are in no way a criticism of the repair job I received. The physicians and staff of Orthopedic Associates of Wisconsin / Waukesha Sports Medicine hold important places on my life's list of tangible heroes. Thanks for the new lease on a life less ordinary.