The blood that came from the wound that led to the blister that earned me tendonitis.
The New Year was set to kick off well. Beginning with a fabulous early morning run amidst the monuments of the National Mall in Washington, DC, it would be followed by a stellar breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, and then an entire day of geeky museum indulgence. What could possibly go wrong? What follows is the story of how a simple band-aid could have prevented an injury and a month of painful – and frustrating – recovery.
It began sometime during December. While running outdoors on a particular wet, dreary day, I wore a small hole into the flesh of my right foot. Being a bit too cold for truly barefoot running, I was blissfully running in my Vibram FiveFingers. I love my FiveFingers. I love running in my FiveFingers. But what I didn’t take into account was that the wet weather, in making my skin moist and supple, also made them prone to rubbing against seams, thereby abrading the skin.
Sure, I felt it happening, but nothing could sway me from the five miles I had set myself to run that day. And so, for five miles, my foot rubbed against a seam in my FiveFingers, wearing a nice little hole into my flesh.
But that’s not the injury of which I speak, only the back story.
Since that small wound developed, I had been covering it with band-aids and blister bandages while running – wet or dry – so as to avoid rubbing the open wound any more while it healed. The approach had been working just fine. After just a couple of weeks the wound had stitched itself back together, though it remained sensitive, so I continued to protect it with band-aids while running.
Celebrating Darwin at the Museum of Natural History
On January 1st, I found myself in Washington, DC, up and about with the sun and ready to start the new day and New Year right by going for a fantastic run around the monuments. Only, I had neglected to bring any band-aids with me on the trip. Not to worry though, as the wound was almost entirely gone – just a wee bit sensitive – and I’d take it easy anyway, right?
Wrong.
Not long after settling into my run, I felt the discomfort. The wound had reopened. It was chaffing and rubbing with every step. Yet I kept going.
Two miles into the run I look down at my foot, and I can see a pinprick of blood seeping through my FiveFingers. I keep going.
At mile three, I absentmindedly glance down, only to see that the pinprick of blood has spread into a bloody Rorschach inkblot, not only spreading and soaking more material, but somehow managing to land as splattered blood onto the Velcro strap as well. I had a bloody mess. Literally. But what the hell, what’s done is done, right? Might as well keep going…
Five and a half miles later I finally roll back into my hotel. Blood everywhere. It’s very painful to extract my foot from my FiveFingers, as the blood has spread and then begun to clot while intertwined with the material and my foot simultaneously. Though I finally manage to extract the foot, I now see that what was once a small, minor, healing abrasion has now turned into a deep – way down into the muscle deep – bloody hole in my foot!
But even that’s not the injury of which I speak. You see, throughout the process of running with the wound – and through the pain- I was naturally adjusting my stride and foot strike to minimize the pain. The adjustments helped with the immediate pain, but adopting an unusual and cumbersome stride unknowingly rubbed me in all sorts of other unanticipated ways, and I developed quite a blister on my foot. Yet even still, that is not the injury of which I speak.
A very brief stop to snap a photo while running towards the Washington Monument.
No, no. You see, after the 5.5 miles of bloody, blistered, awkward running, I had an entire day of museum walking planned. It was a fantastic day. I got to Celebrate Darwin at the Museum of Natural History. I cried at the Air & Space Museum – seeing the Mercury capsules was a bit emotional for this longtime astronerd – and I limped and shuffled my way all throughout DC on a blister and a deep, open wound, walking in such an awkward way as to irritate my posterior tibial tendon into a swollen band of burning, twinging discomfort.
Lacking a band-aid, I developed posterior tibial tendonitis. I was likely on the verge of injury anyway, as I’m always riding the line of pushing too hard (I’m getting better at holding back!), but between the awkward running and then a full day of very awkward walking, I was pushed over that line. I had to abandon my usual running schedule and I did not run for a full week after my New Year run, and then spent a solid week on non-impact cardio. The entire month of January was spent recovering, as every significant run irritated the tendon even more. Eventually though, by trimming back miles – eliminating them entirely at the beginning – constant massage, stretching and by keeping the inflammation down, I’ve made (knock on wood) a full recovery. But it all could have been avoided if I had simply remembered a band-aid.
Despite the injury and the setback in my training, the trip really was quite remarkable. Lessons were learned of course – small things can turn into big things easily when repetitive motion is involved – but I had a great time in every other regard. I welcome the next trip to D.C. Though for what it’s worth, my stellar breakfast turned into a $20 bowl of yogurt and granola.
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Wow quite a progression of events there — “for lack of a band-aid.”
Just seeing your bloody KSOs makes me cringe. Hope you recover quickly.
@Justin – Many thanks! Recovery seems to be going well. Blasted tendon flares up now and again, but I’m hoping it will make a full recovery with care.
You should have seen the KSO in person. The picture doesn’t do it justice. And for the life of me, I have no idea how blood could have sprayed and splattered all the way up to my ankle…
On another note, I find birthdayshoes.com to be a priceless resource. I refer to it time and again. Kudos on maintaining such a great blog.
Timely article here! I have been running in my KSOs for about 2 months, but using the toe socks. Ironically though this morning I went sockless, and after about 2 miles developed a blister right at one of the seams. That seems to be the one drawback to these “shoes”, they are so comfortable and great to run in, but the seams on the inside can really do a number on the tops and sides of the feet. The bottoms of the feet toughen up, but I don’t see the sides of my feet getting calloused any time soon. Great lesson learned here. I’ll probably stick with the toe socks, especially after seeing your bloody KSO!
@Russ – Sorry to hear that your seams are bothering you! I’ve had two pair thus far, and have noticed a bit of variation in stitching. It’s bound to happen, I suppose.
My initial wound came from a seam rubbing during wet weather, when my skin was soft and supple, but I suspect that given the intentionally snug fit of the VFFs, we need to be more aware of seams on the inside in general. Some may be perfect, other may have variations that cause rubbing, and yet others may have developed problems as a result of wear and tear. I think in the end, it comes down to trying it out and see how it works in each individual case, as you discovered for yourself.
For what it’s worth, I’m no longer covering the sensitive spot where my wound has healed, though I do now use a friction block stick. I probably should have been using one before anyway, but now that I’ve come around to it, I’m finding that it easily prevents all sorts of rubbing, chaffing and blistering issues on the feet. That’s not VFF specific of course, any runner would likely benefit, but if you’re looking to ditch the socks during warmer weather, give a friction stick a try on the areas that tend to rub the most.
[...] in January I suffered a posterior tibial tendon strain which put me off my feet and back into the gym for non-impact cross-training in place of my usual [...]
[...] Lastly and most recently, I sustained an injury that truly could have been avoided had I taken but a moment to pack a band-aid. I wrote about it in the post entitled How A Band-Aid Can Save Your Life. [...]
[...] running + flesh would + blister = funny running, yields posterior tibial trouble 2.) recovery + half-marathon training + pushing it hard = recurrence of injury 3.) 6+ weeks [...]
Hi there. What sort of footwear did you wear during your recovery from PTT? Dealing with a bit of it myself and debating whether to maintain my predilection for minimal footwear or get some foot coffins with support for the possibility of relief.
@Willy – I have indeed been wearing shoes throughout my recovery process. I’ve decided to listen very carefully to my body so as to encourage a full recovery, and the shoes do help give my PTT a bit of extra support. Not much, but enough.
I have a pair of minimal racing flats for the road and a not-excessive trail shoe for, well, the trails.
My recovery training has been more heavily leaning towards the trails, as the roads now make me a bit nervous, what with all the repetitive impact and all. I’ve still been training on them, but the trails have definitely captured the bulk of my time.
I’ve had a few short trail runs in my FiveFingers, but it’s primarily been in my shoes, while on the roads I’ve been alternating the racing flats with some short completely barefoot training sessions on both pavement and grass. I’ve also gone for a few impromptu short runs on the road in just the FiveFingers.
The body line is that I respond immediately to how my PTT is feeling and I’ve stopped pushing it. I’m also allowing more time between training while I rehab my tendon.
Other than while I’m running though, my daily footwear while I’m out of the house has been my FiveFingers, and indoors has been barefoot. Of course, if I feel fatigue or stress on the tendon, I rest it.
Hope that helps!
@Willy (again) – I should also mention that I have a pretty aggressive schedule of foot and lower leg strengthening exercises. I don’t want my feet to atrophy while my PTT is nursed back to health. I’ve developed really strong feet, and my strength training has only made them stronger. I’ve included a lot of balance exercises on wobble boards, balance pods, rocker boards, et. al. and specific exercises and stretches for my calves. I attribute my continued recover to this attention to strengthening my stabilizing muscles. My feet are stronger now than they were pre-injury, and I’m sure that had I just returned to running (with or without shoes) I’d still be sidelined with continued trouble.
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