Returning to Relevé

I'm not even sure where to begin; a lot has happened.  I suppose I should just start where I left off, back in OCTOBER. Saw AnkleDoctor. He agreed with the nurse's recommendation that I needed surgery, only he thought my problem was the FHL ( remember my good 'ole FHL ?), some instability, and likely some damage to the cartilage in my ankle joint. This was a happier prognosis than what I expected (believe it or not), because the nurse had originally talked about deepening the peroneal groove in my bone and stuff, eep! So I had surgery at the end of November 2016. They ended up doing a lot more than I expected (and I have more "holes" in my ankle than I thought I would!): One side of scars--not too bad looking these days! Checked my ankle joint for cartilage injuries and found two. To fix, they created little “potholes” and dug out the bad cartilage. Apparently the bone marrow fills back in over time (like tar), but limits my releve-type activities ...

So....the PRP didn't work. That's a bit of a lie, it worked a little bit (things are less "crunchy"), but not well enough that I'm better and able to dance. No, in fact, the doctor that gave me the PRP injection actually recommended that I go see an orthopedic surgeon that specializes in foot/ankle problems. Good times. So I've been waiting 3 months to get in to see AnkleDoctor's nurse (the "gatekeeper"), who one HAS to see prior to seeing the doctor. I saw her a week or so ago and she was basically like, "Girl, you've done everything else, I think we need to have AnkleDoctor do surgery to put your tendon in place and clean up the gunk in there." So, now I'm waiting AGAIN, this time to officially consult with the doctor. So, it looks like I'm surgery-bound. I just don't know when. Will I be able to dance in the winter show? Will I be hobbling around on crutches during Thanksgiving and Christmas? Only time will te...

Man, I have been on an adventure (if waiting for things to happen one month at a time can be called an adventure). I got an MRI in mid-May, and found out I had the following problems: Chronic tendonitis in my peroneal tendons (not surprised) with some possible subluxation (movement) of the tendons out of their proper placement (yuck). Inflammation in the front part of my ankle joint Bursitis in the bursa located behind the Achilles A small tear in my Achilles (?!) Basically, my ankle was a hot mess of inflammation from overuse. We're all shocked, I know.   I discussed the results with my PT and podiatrist, and the latter decided that she wanted me to get a surgeon's opinion (as she no longer does surgery). I ended up going back to the first podiatrist I'd seen when this first started a thousand years ago , and he decided the best thing for me to try at this point would be a PRP injection. PRP stands for platelet rich plasma. They take some of your blood, c...

I wish I could say that no news is good new but alas... I spent 4 weeks in the boot full-time (even sleeping), and another 2 weeks in it part-time (out at home, in everywhere else). As of yesterday, I am now boot free! YAY! Alas, the ankle feels EXACTLY THE SAME, so next week I'm off to get an MRI. Cross your fingers for me, everyone!

So. This is happening. After much frustration, and still feeling like the Ankle of Doom wasn't getting any better despite my best PTing efforts, I talked to the doctor and it was decided that I should try wearing The Boot in order to try and see if immobilization would calm things the heck down.  Since we have a two week dance break it seemed like a good time, but it turns out that I'm stuck in this sucker for FOUR WEEKS. Not only that, but because my body can't behave itself, I get to graduate to a tall boot next week (I'm wearing a short one in the pic above), because I'm still getting too much movement and my peroneal tendon is POPPING. Speaking of peroneal tendons popping, during the PT session prior to my doc visit, I noticed popping when I went to point my foot, and the PT said it may be peroneal instability (the doc agrees), which basically means my tendon is moving in and out of its groove (though not completely subluxing over the bone). This could ...

I keep mentioning the Graston technique , and thought perhaps it would be good to actually show you guys what it looks like. Here are some of the tools the PT uses on me: They really do look like torture implements, don't they? And here is a very short clip of her working the top part of my ankle/foot (she also does the back, but I flip onto my stomach for that and can't film it, heh!) I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and generally this doesn't actually feel terrible unless she hits a tender spot. I just hope it works! The PT says that everything feels better to her than it did just one month ago, though when I did some releves for her in pointe shoes the other day, I could feel/she could see that my flexibility in that ankle isn't quite there yet. I just want the pinching to go away :(

There are apparently stages of grief with injuries , and I think I've hit them all. One of my last posts was definitely during what I was thinking of as my "depression" stage, and today's post may very well fall under "acceptance." One of the newer exercises that the PT is having me do involves standing on one leg on the flat side of a Bosu ball and doing 15 rond de jambes (3 sets--my leg really feels it by the end)--without holding on to anything. The other folks there are thoroughly impressed with my ability to balance; I've taken to calling it my "circus act."  It has really been the inspiration to kick me out of my depression, because it has made me realize that I'll come out of all this even stronger than before. Maybe I'll even be able to do this: On releve! Can you imagine? (I can't really, but who knows!) Positive thoughts ;)

Six months. SIX MONTHS. Half a year of ankle pain of varying degrees (that still hasn't gone away). To say that I'm frustrated would be an enormous understatement. To make it even more annoying, I've been dealing with this issue off and on for nearly two years. I've seen two different podiatrists and now two different PTs. These past six months, I have not been able to dance fully. My relev é  is restricted (and therefore so is turning), and I am not supposed to jump (except rarely to demonstrate for students). I have basically (I feel) been half dancing for half a year. I keep diligently doing my PT exercises every morning, am currently going through two PT sessions a week involving the Graston technique (ow), and yet the ankle is still being a jerk. My at-home PT assistant is especially helpful. Current PT says that I have a lot of scar tissue (past sprains, wear and tear over the years) that is both restricting my ankle mobility and causing an impingement...

Our Christmas show is over, and as always it's a little bittersweet. I have such fun making new friends in the cast each year, and bonding over choreography troubles. Blurry stage light picture. Those suckers get HOT! I do have some happy news on the injury front--I was finally able to see a PT with a background in dance medicine, and met her the week before the show. She showed me how to properly KT tape my leg, and gave me other exercises to add to my repertoire. I was also given instructions on how to ease back into full classes properly (floor barre, then regular barre, then barre AND center, then pointe, then finally jumping again). First order of business: REST for at least a week (no releves!) Weirdly easier said than done for me! I have a tendency to dance around my house more than I thought... We don't have floor barre at our studio, so I've been investigating methods to do at home. That in itself was a little overwhelming, but I settled on the one that not...

I was talking to the PT Monday about how I still have a cranky spot deep up inside the back/outside part of my ankle, and she suggested that maybe it was a grumpy ligament that I had mildly sprained. My initial reaction was, "Nah," but then as I thought about it, I recalled how my ankle likes to give out, and how earlier this summer it had given out in class and I'd actually rolled it slightly. OOPS. That may have been the catalyst to setting off this most recent bout of ankle grumpiness. In other news, I'm still being threatened with a boot after the performance if my pain doesn't go away. I'm torn about it, to be honest--on one hand, I'm worried about losing strength, on the other I just want this damn thing to get better.

I mentioned in my last post that my ankle has been bothering me again, and this time the pain was not content to disappear after some minor rest. I've been seeing a PT and a second podiatrist and apparently I have both sinus tarsi syndrome AND peroneal tendonitis, likely due to a large number of factors. While frustrating, it's fascinating to me how connected everything in the body can be--for instance, at my last appointment the PT mentioned how my hips are slightly out of alignment, which may be causing my hamstring to be tight, which in turn is limiting the movement of the fibula, which may be contributing to the peroneal problems. OY VEY. I have yet to determine the starting point of all this chaos, though sometimes I wonder if it stems from my injury/surgery on my left knee several years ago (causing over compensation on my right side). The doc and PT think its very possible. I'm doing a limited amount of dancing (I took a 3 week break awhile back to no ava...

Things have been crazy busy, so I've been a blogging slacker. Updates! I started doing my own strength training circuit at home through August, and was pretty good about sticking with it. I did both arm and legs exercises every other day throughout the month and definitely saw and felt some improvement. Now I just have to keep up with it because I've been a slacker so far into September. No surprises there, really. My stupid ankle is bothering me again, so now I'm seeing a PT (who is a former dancer, yay!) To the shock of no one, she told me that I have tight calves. What was surprising was that I have weak calves (for a dancer), and likely some muscle imbalance. We'll be working on that, and also checking my pelvis for any other imbalances. My first homework assignment is to stretch my poor calves every day (especially after class). Good times. The Pointe Shoe Saga also continues, because I dislike the Airess. I have two major problems with them: I can...

In a weird but wonderful twist of the universe, we had a (former) professional dancer drop into the adult class at my dance school earlier this week. If that wasn't amazing enough, it turns out her new career is as a physical therapist! My AD asked her if she would be willing to look at my foot, and she was gracious enough to give me a little exam before attending class (awesome!) She told me that my symptoms were very similar for having an os trigonum, which can be hard to detect (I told her my podiatrist had checked for that and nothing had shown up on my x-ray, but I guess sometimes they can be super hard to see). All the balancing! Alternatively (and equally as likely) it may be the result of my tight calves in conjunction with my having had previous ankle sprains to that ankle many moons ago. Because of the sprains,  I've lost stability in my ankle and now my peroneal muscles are overcompensating when I do all my balancing/pointe work. Makes sense to me! She ga...

We just finished a two week Spring Break, and I actually (gasp) took a break. I decided that if I wanted to be able to do pointe for our spring show, I should probably let my foot rest. The latest news on that front is that it seemed to be some peroneal tendonitis, which is an overuse injury (everyone is shocked, right? haha). Besides the increased pointe in class, I have been walking more than usual, and because I walk turned out and supinate (all of which is bad), I think I aggravated that entire area. Le sigh. In completely non-foot related news, I am still struggling with finding something both comfortable and flattering to wear for classes. I mean...I don't mind wearing leotards and tights, but the leg holes of many of my leos squeeze things a little too much for my liking, which makes me feel like they don't fit and, therefore, aren't flattering. It's a little frustrating. I also continue to hate normal tights and how the elastic forever makes me look like a sau...

As I had predicted, the steroids the doc gave me for the foot didn't help much. I saw him again and he felt around more, finally finding the sensitive spot just behind my outer ankle bone (the lateral malleolus for those of you who are medically inclined.) Seems like it may be my peroneal tendon/muscle, which is an overuse injury (of course). It can also be caused by tight calves (which the doc noted I had while he was flexing my foot around), so I have lots of stretching and massaging in my future. Also, super sexy KT taping! I did the math, and I was definitely dancing more in the winter, but I am doing more pointe which does a nice number on the calves, so I think that's my problem. I'm going to have to be religious about massaging and stretching my calves at night. Things that are worrying me, though? Our spring showcase. As of discussions right now, I may be in as many as NINE numbers (two tap, three ballet/ballet-esque, and four jazz!) AHHHHHH.

My stupid ankle/foot is bothering me again. It feels very similar to the problem I was having over the summer, so I saw the foot doc again. This time he thinks it might actually be my sural nerve, but I don't really feel like that's it because I don't get any weird tingling or numbness. It's more of an ache/pinching feeling? Sigh. However, because it seems like my calves are forever tight (I had problems with shin splints early on), I asked if tightness in my calf could cause problems in my ankle and he said yes--tight calf muscles can restrict ankle mobility(!) so that's also a big possibility (yay relevé!)  Time to break out all my self massage tools and see if that helps. And maybe one of these fancy calf stretching deals: (They had me use one during my PT recovery for my knee injury a few years ago and it was the best thing ever). In any event, whatever this is seems to be pointe related. I've come to this conclusion because during the ...

My apologies for the lack of posts! The foot/ankle is still being a jerk, so I haven't been dancing, and therefore have had nothing to report (except for complaints about being antsy). I went back to the podiatrist today for a check up to see how/if the injection had helped anything. The pain on the inside part of my ankle has disappeared (hurray!), but a pinchy feeling is still occurring on the outside, sort of back near my heel. It doesn't hurt too badly if I just prop my foot up, but as soon as I put weight on it (a la relev é ), it gets all grumpy. The doc felt around and pushed that area a bit, and I definitely had pain. Turns out that it was my joint (the subtalar joint , to be exact). That made me a little panicky at first, but apparently it's just another inflammation thing (yay synovial fluid!) I likely had BOTH tendinitis AND the subtalar issue, thanks to my crazy dance schedule this past spring. Good times. I got another steroid injection (differen...

I saw the podiatrist again today about my heel/ankle pain. He still thinks it might be the FHL , but also suggested it could be some kind of neuropathy--e.g. a nerve in my pelvis is actually causing the pain in my foot.  However, when he asked me about my pain (if it felt weird, or numb, or was tingling), I said no, it was more like a pinch, and that didn't seem to jive with that partciular theory. He pushed around on my ankle and the FHL got nice and cranky (but was deep), so we decided to try an injection and see what would happen.  He told me to try to relevé later and see if it helped the pain at all (since the injection basically numbs it for a few hours afterward).  Alas, I'm still numb (though its wearing off), and still getting a pinch.  That being said, I have been on my feet the last few hours, so I imagine I'm still nice and inflamed down there. If it does start to feel better, I can ease back into class.  If not, I need to take Advil and see h...

My body has decided to go on strike.  I've been having some pain/aches around my ankle and heel, but its another thing that comes and goes depending on its mood (I assume).  It's only my right foot, which I had sprained (twice) over 10 years ago, so I originally thought maybe it was just not as strong and needed time to get used to all my dancing and pointe again. It has continued, so I started thinking maybe my never-ending point shoe saga was to blame--and I'm sure isn't helping things. So, since we're on a break from classes (during which I fully intend on just RESTING for once), I made an appointment with a foot/ankle specialist to get it checked out, just to be safe, especially since after break I'm going to that SI. Good news: not my Achilles.  Also not an os trigonum issue (whew).  Bad news: I have some inflammation/tendonitis in my flexor hallucis longus tendon* . (yea, trying saying that fast...or at all). Its the tendon that runs from your ...

I have a dumb knee. I don't like to say its a "bad" knee, because it still totally functions (quite well, actually), but it has some issues due to past injuries/surgeries (meniscus tear).  Every once in awhile it will ache (typically when the weather changes, which my friends find hilarious), but then it will feel normal again.  Sometimes a particularly rigorous class will make it ache too, but its nothing a little post-class icing/elevation/resting can't cure. At least that was true until a couple of weeks ago.  The weather had been weird again, so when it started to ache, I didn't really think anything of it.  Then last week I somehow managed to overstretch my hamstring on that side, and it REALLY ached. I'm naturally hyperextended, so I figured the combination of overstretching (and also forcing my knee back while doing so), plus the weather stuff had just made it irritated in general.  I wasn't really doing more classes/rehearsals than I had be...