Prognosis, and Back To Work

I saw my podiatrist Dr. Mah this morning.  He was satisfied and pleased with the way my stitches are healing.  He gave me a great prognosis: I can start work immediately, and when the stitches come out in two weeks I can start running again!

Yesterday (Monday) I started my rehab workouts at ADAPT Training.  The folks at ADAPT were kind enough to provide me with several routines to keep me moving while my foot finishes healing.  The workouts will help me retain as much mobility, flexibility, and muscular balance as possible during my recovery.  I need to be vigilant about muscular balance.  The shape of my right foot has changed, so the way I walk and run will have to adapt to the new shape without overcompensating and creating an imbalance in the rest of my body.  This will be the biggest challenge of my recuperation.

For the last week I've been wearing a surgical boot on my right foot to protect the bandages.  The boot was way too cumbersome (plus it was two sizes bigger than I need), so I wanted to find some comfortable footwear.  If I was gonna go back to work I needed to protect my injury while still being able to move around as much as possible.  Of course most people (myself included) train barefoot in a martial arts studio, but I didn't think that was an option.  I bought a pair of inexpensive flip-flops with a velcro instep strap.

The flip-flops lasted about two minutes.  That's how long it took for one of them to fall off my injured foot.  I ended up just tossing them onto the shoe rack.  My wound is covered with a thick layer of gauze bandages that are held in place by an elastic Ace bandage.  Turns out that the Ace bandage holds everything together just fine.  I had to adjust it several times, but that was no big deal.  The floor at the TKD studio is covered by two layers of foam mats that, combined, are about three inches thick.  This is a very comfortable surface for training AND for walking around with a forefoot injury.

By the end of the day I was exhausted but very happy.  My bad wheel was a little achy but not even close to being a problem.  My stamina isn't quite back to normal, but I see signs of improvement.  Getting back to my work as a TKD instructor can only help me get it back.  Plus I miss everyone.  The staff and students at World Champion Taekwondo are part of my extended family.

I'm very excited to have a date when I can start running again!  I believe that my existing running style (not very fast, smallish stride, medium to fast tempo) will lend itself to a good recovery.  I am expecting my progress to be slow and probably a little painful.  I'm also expecting some setbacks along the way; Dr. Mah warned me that my balance will most likely have been affected by the injury.  That's fine, I'm not looking to set a world record or anything.  The most important thing for me is to just get moving and keep moving.