It's Time To Slow Down A Bit

Well, all this fun and frolic finally caught up to one of us...

About a month before Cyndi and I left Barbados, I started getting severe pain in my right heel. We figured out that the long walks we were taking, especially in the sand, were probably the cause. All I really knew was that my ankle and my heel hurt, a lot. I couldn't walk straight ahead on it anymore and rather had to walk with my right foot turned at 90 degrees to the outside with each step. I had to swing my leg like a club as this stopped me from bending my ankle.

When we thought about it a little more we realized that most of our long walks exploring the island in the sand seemed to be such that the sea was on my left and the slope of the sandy beach went up to my right. This would mean my right foot seemed to be pointing “up hill” more often than my left foot. Also, each step you take in sand seems to make your heels sink in further than your toes and you are constantly using the ball of your foot to "lift" your heel up as you walk.

I know, I know.... I can hear the mini violins playing now....

When it started to get sore, I would regularly suggest that we stop for a nice cool refreshment along the way. Then we noticed that we seemed to be stopping for a lot of refreshments....I digress.

I thought it was my Achilles tendon being stretched. Website research seemed to point to that too, so I wrapped up my foot with gauze to try to make it feel better. It didn't really do anything but made me slow down somewhat.

I spoke with several people about Achilles tendon treatments and they suggested that it might help to apply kinesiology tape to my leg. I found a site that showed how to do that, and I applied it, under the foot and up the back of the calf, and then criss-crossing above the heel and up onto the sides of the calf. Each time you take a step it's supposed to help lift your heel. It stops you from bending your ankle and keeps your toes pointed down and away from your knee (relieves stress on the achilles tendon). It also slowed me down and forced me to put my foot up. I hobbled about from place to place. This went on for the remainder of our stay in Barbados but I stopped taping it just before we left as it started feeling better. Probably because we were avoiding our long walks.

When we arrived in Grenada I could still feel some soreness but the prospect of new adventures made me throw caution to the wind.

Three weeks and many walks later it was very sore again and very swollen. I bought more tape and wrapped it up again. I had such a hard time walking that we had to buy crutches for me, and then I really started to worry. It stayed swollen and was very tender to the touch. This sucks. No car, and we had to walk everywhere. Grocery shopping was not fun, although the taxi driver helped us get our groceries into our suite.

Then I found that the pressure of the tape was causing a lot of painful contact on the back of my heel bone when I moved around. And it really hurt when I put pressure down with my foot flat on the floor as the tape would tighten up (it should for tendonitis treatment). This wasn't working...

I thought I should do some more research. That was confirmed after speaking with a nice knowledgeable lady who stopped to talk to give us help while we were out shopping. She mentioned Bursitis and some of the things she said made a lot of sense. Then I remembered that our new friends that we met in Barbados (Jim and Sue) had also mentioned that could be it.

Generally speaking, Bursitis is a painful condition that affects joints, and often occurs near joints that perform frequent repetitive motion. As a result, recurring flareups are common... Yep.

Long story short, it is now clear that I have something called subcutaneous calcaneal bursitis. Here is what I found: Patients with this condition typically experience pain at the back of the ankle and heel where the Achilles tendon attaches into the heel bone. Pain is typically experienced during activities requiring strong or repetitive calf contractions (often involving end of range ankle movements) such as walking (especially uphill), going up and down stairs, running, jumping or hopping (especially whilst wearing excessively tight shoes). Often pain may be worse with rest after these activities (especially that night or the following morning). The pain associated with this condition may ‘warm up’ with activity in the initial stages of injury. As the condition progresses, patients may experience symptoms that increase during sport or activity, affecting performance. In severe cases, patients may walk with a limp or be unable to weight bear on the affected leg. Other symptoms may include redness around the heel, tenderness on firmly touching the affected bursa, and swelling around the Achilles region.

This certainly describes the symptoms perfectly - especially the part about limping about, not being able to put weight on it, and being worse in the mornings. Touching the backside of my heel bone really hurt and was very tender and felt warm. It made me realize that I didn't have achilles tendonitis as the pain areas for that are supposedly higher up on the back of my heel (different) than where I hurt.

So what causes it? Apparently a bursa is a fluid filled sack and acts as a cushion and lubricant between tendons or muscles sliding over bone. There are bursas around most large joints in the body, including the ankle. The subcutaneous calcaneal bursa is located in the back of the heel. It is where the large Achilles tendon connects the calf muscles to the heel bone. Repeated or too much use of the ankle can cause this bursa to become irritated and inflamed. It may be caused by too much walking, running, or jumping. This condition is very often linked to Achilles tendinitis. Sometimes calcaneal bursitis may be mistaken for Achilles tendinitis. Risks for this condition include: Starting a very intense workout schedule; Suddenly increasing activity level without the right conditioning and footwear; Changes in activity level.

Bingo... and I have been walking long distances in flip flops all the time, and they wear out and get thin at the heel..... not good.

So, the kinesiology tape came off my leg and ice went on. Ibuprofen and Naproxen anti-inflammatory tablets were bought and my leg had to go up, raised on a pillow.

I need to stretch my ankle by pointing my toes and then pulling toes/feet up toward my knee, and holding for about minute, many times a day. Also, circular twisting of the foot in both directions is also good. This was the opposite of what I had been doing (the kinesiology tape stopped my foot from doing that).

Rest, ice, and elevate while gently stretching the achilles tendon will help the bursitis go away and prevent it from coming back. After a few days I could already feel improvement. I only ventured out of the apartment one time with my crutches and I didn't like it. I have been inside for a few days waiting for the swelling to go down and it does feel better.

Apparently it takes about a month to heal if you are a god boy and follow medical advice. And I need to wear better supportive footwear.

We haven't been to the beach for several days now. Hopefully it will go away soon so we can both get back to the beach doing cartwheels again!