Working from home, I don’t wear shoes – let alone high heels – all that often.
So I guess it’s not surprising that when I wore heels to a funeral about a year ago, I had a bit of a mishap.
Walking back to the car, I missed my step and rolled my ankle – ouch! It brought tears to my eyes but at least I didn’t completely embarrass myself by falling over, as I was able to clutch on to hubby for support.
Back at the car, I swapped over to a pair of flat shoes for the wake, and promptly forgot all about it. It didn’t really hurt, and there was no visible swelling or bruising. It didn’t stop me from going for my morning walks so I didn’t realise the damage I’d done.
What Happened After I Rolled My Ankle
However … over the following months, I noticed that my ankle just wasn’t quite “right”. Nothing major; there were just a couple of little niggles, such as:
- Tenderness under the outside ankle joint, when I sat cross-legged;
- And, I struggled to walk in high heels (which I lamented in this post, Put Your Best Foot Forward, back in May last year)!
On the odd occasion when I *did* wear heels, I tottered along, feeling very unstable and insecure. Plus, I got a weird pain in the top of my foot (especially when walking or standing). It was clear that my foot really didn’t like being forced into that angle!
I pretty much gave up on the fancy shoes, and put these little twinges down to getting older (as you do). However as time went by, and things weren’t improving, I began to worry. Maybe I was developing arthritis?
How I Discovered Foot Mobilisation Therapy
I probably would have let things continue except I read an article by a local podiatrist, and one sentence really stuck with me: “I often encounter clients that say, ever since I had that sprained ankle, my foot has never been quite the same”. It then went on to explain a treatment called Foot Mobilisation Therapy. I was intrigued!
That was pretty much how I felt, except – I hadn’t really sprained my ankle, just rolled it.
In the end I booked an appointment, although I was pretty sure it was “nothing”.
But to my surprise, it wasn’t “nothing” – it was actually “something”. You see, when I rolled my ankle, I’d placed an enormous amount of abnormal forces on it, causing joints and ligaments to pop out of alignment.
When the podiatrist tested my muscle strength, the injured foot was as weak as a kitten – it had nowhere near the power of the other one!
And the treatment was so simple, I wish I’d sought out help earlier.
Foot Mobilisation Therapy (or FMT) is a fairly recent development in the world of podiatry, and involves manipulating your foot until things go back into place – it’s a bit like chiropractic for the foot.
During the treatment, I lay on my stomach while the podiatrist poked and prodded, stretched and pulled, bent my leg up and straightened it again – and sure enough things popped back into place. I know, because I actually heard it!
Despite the cracking and popping, it didn’t hurt at all.
But Did Foot Mobilisation Therapy Work?
Yes, it did!
My ankle immediately felt looser, and I had a much better range of movement and strength straight away.
My foot was then strapped up with kinetic tape which I left on for a couple of days. It was explained to me that when I rolled my ankle, I’d disrupted the neurological pathway – the flow of information from my foot to my brain, and vice versa. It was almost like, as far as my brain was concerned, my foot wasn’t there anymore! No wonder I struggled to walk in high heels. The kinetic tape was to help my brain and foot re-connect.
For a day or two afterwards, my foot, ankle and calf felt a little bit tender and even tingly but since then, I can honestly say I’m as good as new. I’ve just come back from an event and I wore heels all day without any problems!
It was like a miracle cure, and I really wanted to share it here in case there are others like me, thinking it’s “nothing much” and “not worth bothering about”, because “it’s just part of being middle aged”.
I do a lot of copywriting and SEO for health professionals and if there’s one thing that I’m learning, it’s that pain is NOT just part and parcel of getting older. It’s a sign that something isn’t quite right, and we would do well to heed that message and do something about it.
So if you too have an ankle that is “not quite right”, even if you don’t remember spraining or rolling your ankle, it is worth getting it checked out … foot mobilisation therapy could be the solution!
Disclosure: My local podiatrist is also one of my clients. However, I was not paid to write this story nor was I encouraged to write a testimonial. I was just so impressed that I wanted to let others know about it.
This post is dedicated to Susan 🙂