Recovery

Both of us have been injured, so now we're learning more about recovery. Ari got sesamoiditis in her left big toe from overuse carrying a heavy pack on a thru-hike, and I crushed part of my meniscus where it attaches to the capsule near my MCL in my left knee while doing an intense heel hook with poor form.

The summer of 2019 Ari was running a lot, training for the Adirondack Marathon in September. She went on a thru-hike of the Northville Placid Trail in the Adirondacks in August, where she was carrying 10 days worth of food. It sounded like a lot of strain on her feet, and she developed tendonitis in the ball of her left foot, known as sesamoiditis because of the sesamoid bones in that tendon. She hiked a lot during the fall and early winter, completing a lot of her 46 high peaks. The sesamoiditis flared up during and after her long hikes.

Once she visited me in California in March 2020 she had self-diagnosed it as sesamoiditis, and was worried she wouldn't be able to heal it and ever hike again, since some horror stories on the internet. She went to see a podiatrist when she got home and got officially diagnosed with sesamoiditis. Her doctor was amazed that she suffered for 8 months before coming in, but recommended rest (no walking, standing, etc) and orthotic insoles with metatarsal support. Since COVID-19 lockdowns were in effect, and she could work on the computer from home, she didn't really do any activity for 3-4 weeks, then started slowly increasing her activity from walking half a mile, to a mile, to alternating walking and running, all while wearing her insoles. When her sesamoiditis would flare up she would ice it, take ibuprofen, and rest it. Luckily this strategy seemed to work for her! We've learned that a contributing factor could be her tight calf muscles, so we've been massaging them, with a roller stick and a wave tool. She continues to have tight calves, which has given her very mild tendonitis in her achillies tendons, but her sesamoids don't bother her anymore!

I injured my knee climbing on February 1st, and thinking that it would get better on it's own I bought a neoprene and velcro knee brace and tried to rest it. I noticed that it hurt more while doing pulling motions with my lower foot, similar to how I injured it, unfortunately this meant even walking, especially uphill hurt. I waited way to long to go to an orthopedic doctor, about 5 months by the time he could see me. We did an X-ray and MRI which eventually showed that I damaged my meniscus on the medial inside part. The word he used is "crushed". According to my doctor this is the only part of my meniscus that gets blood, because it's near the outside, so it should heal itself. Surgery couldn't do much because it's not torn, and a growth stimulating injection could help but he didn't recommend it unless it didn't heal on it's own. Eventually it has healed on its own, and I'm grateful to be able to walk and hike again without pain! I've since learned that proper heel hook technique is to keep your knee bent, your heel as close as possible to your hips, and to point your toe to engage your calf muscle, none of which I was doing when I injured it.

Now that we know what to look out for, to visit the doctor sooner, and how to recover properly, we are better prepared to deal with injuries in the future.