25 of 100: My left foot

The other day I read an article in the New York Times about the importance of strong feet. It included a few little self-assessment routines, which of course I did—I want to have strong feet!—and I passed them just fine. 

Then I went for a hike in the Big Sur backcountry, doing trail work. And on the three-mile walk back from our turnaround point, the top of my left food started hurting. Not a sharp pain—more like a feeling of being bruised. Tender. How odd.

When the discomfort persisted, I did a little poking around online, and learned that there is such a thing as an extensor tendon—in both the feet and the hands. In the foot specifically, we have two types: Extensor Hallucis Longus, which lifts up the big toe, and Extensor Digitorum, which lifts the other four toes. Both tendons run down across the front of the ankle, across the top of the foot, and then fan out attaching to the tips of the toes.  

It turns out, the extensor tendon fairly easily succumbs to overwork, resulting in inflammation: tendonitis—which can also be caused by shoes that are too tightly laced, too small, or with improper support. (Ah, the critical importance of well-fitting shoes!)

So that's my self-diagnosis: extensor tendonitis. The big bump on top of my foot seems to confirm, and to suggest it's the Hallucis Longus. I have switched to wearing sturdier high-top boots on my walks now, and am trying to do some exercises, such as these proposed by the website Upswing Health. It also convinces me that my recent exercise regime of doing as little as possible probably isn't the best, and come August I will be resuming a 10,000 (or so)-step practice. As that NYT article said, strong feet are important! Not to mention all the other strength that comes from regular exercise.

And if you think our feet are as simple as that diagram above, here's a more thorough rendering. We are complicated creatures. It's a miracle we work at all.