Day 69: Toe Rehab

The tape came off the toe today. 

It's been 16 days since I broke my pinky toe and I have to admit, I have not been especially patient in giving it time to heal.  I was back at martial arts after 4 days, working hard to prepare for my belt test.  The test itself was 8 days after the injury, and I was determined to not let it be a factor there.  This last week I followed my regular class and kickboxing schedule, including an intense night of sparring Friday.

The toe has been okay, thanks in large part to tape, ice, and a lot of Advil. 

The only thing I haven't been doing is running.  It's impossible to wear Vibrams with a buddy-taped toe, and the mile or so I did in sneakers felt so weird and wrong, I wasn't eager to do it again.

Realizing that I have backpacking training this coming weekend and a ToughMudder in about 6 weeks, the toe and I needed to have another talk.  After all, this little digit makes up a very small part of a much larger person, with needs and plans of her own. 

It was time to begin to wean off the buddy, if just for a little while.

Taking off the tape was okay.  Wiggling the toes was okay.  Walking around barefoot or in Birkenstocks was okay after the first few minutes. 

Forcing the toe into a Vibram Five-Finger running shoe was a different story.  One that made me gasp more than once with a shocking amount of pain that reminded me of the night I broke it to begin with.

I left the Vibrams on and walked around the house in them.  As I continued to exercise the joint, it started to feel better.  Out to the garden was harder, as the ground is uneven.  But the more I walked around, the less it bothered me.  Maybe the joint is just stiff and needs more movement.  The bone itself should take another few weeks to completely heal, if my reading is correct.  But I have faith that my body knows what to do and that it is healing as it should.

After a hot shower and some Asana Kisser salve, it feels nurtured.  Still painful to move certain ways; still not right, but I think the attention I gave it today was necessary and good for it. 

Tomorrow we're going running together, me and my little toe.

** Okay, it's now Monday night.  I did NOT go running today, but I did go all day without the tape or the Advil.  I gardened and I took two classes (retaped it for that) and now I'm on the couch with ice on it, and I just washed down a handful of Advil with an entire beer.  I guess I pushed it a bit too much. Lesson learned...