Okay, so… long time problem I’ve finally decided it’s time to do something about. As I’m aging I think my cumulative sports injuries are conspiring to sideline me. Here’s the issue:
When I run, over training days, my left ankle seems to actually deteriorate in terms of strength. It’s like the anterior tibialis is only connected on the outer side of my foot! This impacts my knee resulting in outer knee pain. I don’t think it’s my ITB that is causing this, maybe weirdness going on in my hip flexors? I also notice when I run that my left leg tends to do this odd rotation inward (yes the entire leg) so my gait is sort of supinated on footfall (pigeon toed) and extremely pronated on the kick (read pinkie toe push off) (possibly the result of a blown ankle when I was much younger?). This results in almost no propulsion coming from my left stride.
Anywho, enough about me. What can be I do to help ME?
Really I don’t look as silly running as this makes it sound, at least I don’t think I do?
I had something similar happen from overuse training for my first marathon. Go to a podiatrist and ask about orthotics. I got some and they make a workd of difference. Also, make stretching part of your routine. I’ve started doing the routine found in the back of Going Long and adding the stretches recommened by the podiatrist. The Dr gave me a board to use to stretch the particular tendons I had injured, it is a disk mounted on half a sphere. You put the sphere part on the ground and put one foot on the disk. Rotate your foot to make the entire circumference touch the ground. Ask your Dr. about this stretch or others that you may need.
From my limited experience, dont’ bother going to a sports med. Dr. unless you’ve got a simple sprain or injured muscle. The more complex stuff requires a more specialized Dr.
My main conceren is that you aren’t getting “drop foot”, which is a condition that can be caused by a number of things. You might want to get this ruled out first by your MD or even a neurologist.
It sounds like it could be something in your gait, pelvic/hip biomechanics. Orthotics can definately help as could a good chiropractor or PT.
Impossible to diagnos over the net, but you should see someone who is familiar with running conditions.
