Peroneal Tendonitis and now hip pain, want to get back to marathon running

by Marc
(Heath, Ohio)

Hi Joshua-

I am a once very active male, now 47 having difficulty with my left peroneal tendon(s). I say once because I have had a few injuries over the past (2) years that have now shut me down completely, with the main problem now being the left peroneal(s).

Brief history and background, 12 years ago I was 250+lbs, no exercise regimen, and high cholesterol. Doctor gave me prescription for medicine and thats when I finally woke up. I started with my diet, lost some weight and decided to begin exercising. The main component of it being running. The pounds melted off and I never looked back. At one point I was down to 165.

After 4 years of this I got it in my head that I wanted to run long distance races. So for the next 4 years I was running anything from a 10K to a marathon. It was in my last 2 years of this, I started having some minor injuries. The last one being this peroneal injury. I was in the middle of a training run when I felt something give in my ankle. (July 2007) It was somewhat bothersome but didn't shut me down.

I was in the middle of marathon training so I cut back and trained for a half marathon that fall instead, but struggled through it. That is when I decided that maybe I should stop the distance running and begin thinking about keeping myself healthy. It was at this point I discovered hiking.

So, I was running 2x or 3x per week 4 to 6 miles at a time, cycling 2x per week 15-20 miles per. When I would hike, I would back off running ahead of and after hiking. Hikes were anywhere from 5-10 miles over various terrain. I had begun having some vague metatarsalgia pain after hiking trips of more than 1 day. I changed insoles, but the big mistake I made was not investing in sturdier hiking boots.

May 2009, I then developed sesamoiditis in my right big toe. It never really healed right and had to go to orthotics to keep walking/hiking. I tried to jog in them but it was causing some pain laterally in the foot. I pulled out (Dec 2009) of the orthotics for a few days to let heal, but my toe acted up.

I then developed a anterior tib strain from trying to walk with the sore toe. So went through PT, bone scan, rest, etc trying to heal this. Nothing worked. Eventually, 8 months later (Sept 2010) I was able to fix it through your ebook on shin splints and some acupuncture. I had also had a problem with my rt hip flexor so that needed attention as well. I strained it trying to get my legs back to fast, walking on incline on the treadmill.

I felt I needed to tell you all this background because as you recall the peroneal was the first injury and was just dealing with it/ignoring it all the while. When I was active, I would have some morning tightness if I ran the previous day.

On a hike, sometimes I would catch my left foot on a root or a stick and would get some sharp pain if it caused my foot to turn outward. Then pain would go away a few minutes later. While cycling, the ankle would begin to stiffen or seem to lock up and would get off my bike after about 30 mins and just move my ankle around and would be fine. So it was just a nuisance.

Once the other injuries started to shut me down, it seemed to get worse. When I would attempt to try to cycle, the ankle would "lock up" after 10 minutes of low resistance cycling. March 2011, I got hip flexor problem to the point where I could walk normally again. So, I began to walk (flat, no terrain) and was in the 30-45 minute range every other day. But the peroneal finally shut me down all together again. I couldn't walk at all. Dr gave me script for prednisone. I was able to be back on my feet in a couple of days.

So, this is where I'm at today. I'm on my feet, but cannot exercise at all. I don't why with how my activities have been so limited the past 16 months, that this has gotten so much worse. The timing of the worsening seems to coincide with the orthotics, but it also coincides with the decrease and then complete ceasing of exercise. I have already had PT on the peroneals (ultrasound, iontophoresis, stretching, etc.) as I was getting therapy on this while working with hip flexor. Stretching seems to aggravate the problem.

As I mentioned, I have purchased your shin splint ebook. I had also purchased your achilles ebook. I had ice dipped left foot/ankle one night, but the next day I was really tight with the achilles tendon, so I backed off. I'm nervous about plowing into the peroneals without knowing how much good tendon is there.

Doctor hasn't ordered MRI cause prednisone "fixed" inflammation. The ankle seemed to test well for strengh when Dr tested it, even when I wasn't able to walk on it.

I know, lots of training and footwear mistakes here. I beat myself up everyday because I have made myself physically and mentally a mess over the past 2 years. I feel like I have put my overall health back into jeopardy because I cannot exercise.

So, any thoughts? Do I need MRI? Should I procede with ice dipping rigorously as I did with shin splint? If so, how do I approach the ice massaging component? If you think this could be better handled on phone, I am open to that.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Marc



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Joshua Answers:


Hey Marc.

Cleaning up some old submissions I never got to...

1. How are you doing now? Please update me.

2. How much Magnesium and Vitamin D are you supplementing with?

3. If your peroneal tenon is 'enough there' to walk on, you're fine to Ice massage the Peroneal structure.

4. Icing rigorously, always a yes.

5. You may require a bigger gun. If you're jacked up from hip to ankle, we may want to chat about The ARPwave System. It'll cost some money, sure, and it's rather intense, but if you want to get back to marathon running no matter what your current pain or dysfunction...it's the way to go.

As you know, Tendonitis is made up of a variety of factors. It's a dynamic. It sounds like your dynamic has spread quite a bit. And the 'worse' it is, the more of the body it affects as the biofeedback loop feeds on itself.


Now that you're on my radar, give me an update of where you're at, and we'll go from there.




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Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com