TOFP and stretching

CJPHD

Barefooters
Aug 12, 2010
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0
0
Hi everyone,

I am new to minimalist/barefoot running and too have been suffering from TOFP. There seem to be an abundance of posts that indicate that TOFP is a lingering issue for people. I have found something that seems pretty promising in terms of relieving the pain.

A little background: A month ago I went for my first run in my Bikilas, 1 mile, and I was hooked. Prior to that run I was doing 30-40 miles a week in my cushy Sauconys. So, I was getting plenty of miles on my legs. Took a few days off after my 1 mile interlude due to soreness and then restarted my running program.

Up to this week I had been wearing my Bikilas for runs of 6 miles (much slower but still running) and under (3 days a week) and my Sauconys for long runs on Fridays. There was some definite soreness in the first week, second week was better, third even better, and this week all miles have been run in my Bikilas with the exception of 1 barefoot run of 6 miles and no blisters! The barefoot run was simply awesome. Really slow at 11 minutes a mile compared to normal pace of about 9:30 but awesome nonetheless.

So that is where I am coming from in terms of fitness. My feet feel pretty good and are getting stronger except for TOFP in my right foot. I couldn't seem to shake it. This may be expected due to the short amount of time I have been in my Bikilas but everything else has felt really great. This is where I started doing some digging and found some information about extensor tendonitis (I am not saying you or I have extensor tendonitis, just that the pain is similar to TOFP). Several websites suggested that some of the TOFP associated with this type of tendonitis could be due to excessively tight calf muscles. This makes sense especially for we newcomers because we are now using our calf muscles in a way that wasn't necessary with our sofa cushion shoes. The suggested remedy was to (obviously) focus on really giving your calf muscles a good stretch. Easy enough.

I found this site which had one popular stretch and one other stretch that I hadn't see before. The first is called the Gastroc stretch. Probably the stretch you think of when you want to stretch your calf muscles. The other is called the Soleus stretch and is one that I hadn't seen or done before. The Soleus is really amazing, that little sucker gets right into your calf and does some pretty great stuff.

Last night I did both stretches 3 times (for about 30 seconds a set) on each calf and then some basic ham string stretches also. I repeated this process this morning and went for a 12 mile long run in my Bikilas. Wow what a difference! The norm for me was my right foot would start with a dull ache at about mile 4 and hang with me until I was done. A little post run TLC with ice and my my massage stick on the bottom of my foot usually took care of any lingering sensitivity.

This run was different. No TOFP at all throughout the run. What a great feeling. I stopped at miles 6 and 9 just to give my self a quick in-run stretch to keep my calf muscles as loose as possible. I expect next week's barefoot run to be just as comfortable.

In sum, my feet are getting stronger by just going easy and continuing to run in my Bikilas. This will naturally take care of some of the TOFP. However, I really think that taking the extra time to stretch out my calf muscles helped immensely and might also help with your current TOFP issues.

Best of luck.

CJPHD
 
This is great information,

This is great information, CJ. Thanks for posting it here. I'm sure it will be helpful to those who suffer from TOFP. I'd like to hear more from others who try this. Do you have links or graphics you can add to point folks in the right direction? Thanks.
 
 Links as requested. This

Links as requested.



This was the first link I found that pointed to extensor tendonitis. Note the suggested remedies are their words not mine. ;o) http://tinyurl.com/yvnabx



Scroll to the bottom of this page for the gastroc and soleus stretches. http://tinyurl.com/p6ws6



The stretching and strengthening section of this page makes a comment on stretching the calf muscles to help with extensor tendonitis. http://tinyurl.com/36sa49u



I will post running updates about my TOFP and the benefits of the stretching routine. Next week I have an 18 mile long run so that should be a really big test. Hopefully all goes well. I would be interested to hear if this works for others.



CJPHD
 
I've been struggling with

I've been struggling with TOFP and had found the stretches you mentioned a couple days ago. You're timing is impeccable! I've been doing these for the last couple days and I can tell it's helping my tight calves.
 
 Glad to hear it.  Have you

Glad to hear it. Have you been able to do any running after the stretching? If so, do you feel it has helped with the TOFP?
 
Their advice is pretty much

Their advice is pretty much what the BFR world recommends for TOFP, minus the shoe part, of course. ;-)

These exercises are the same ones I use for PF. Most excellent. Good to know they would work for TOFP too. (See links provided by CJ for more details.)

Gastroc Stretch Position
gastroc.jpg

Soleus Stretch Position
Soleus.jpg
 
I don't think my foot is

I don't think my foot is ready to run on yet. I still have a pretty sharp, initial pain when I first put weight on it. It goes away quickly, but obviously something isn't right. The stretches are doing wonders on my calves though. Looking back, I now believe my super tight calf was the cause of my TOFP.



Thanks for the pics TJ. I wish I could remember where I saw it, but somewhere online it was recommended to do the Gastroc Stretch, but do it as though you are pigeon toed. The Soleus Stretch feels wonderful, but that lady looks like she's gonna poop any minute! (wait. it isn't you, is it TJ??)
 
Yeah, whenever I do the

Yeah, whenever I do the Soleus in public, I'm VERY self-conscious about how I look. OTOH, dang stretch works, so I do it.
 
that lady looks like she's

that lady looks like she's gonna poop any minute! (wait. it isn't you, is it TJ??)

Relentless! Ha, oh so darn funny! Hee.

P.S. I got those pictures from CJ's link.
 
Yea, that's great.

Yea, that's great.
 
 Just and update.Kept my

Just and update.

Kept my calf stretching routine going throughout the weekend and feel spectacular. Today was my2nd barefoot run. Five miles which went great, no TOFP. I did however pick up the pace from 11 min to 9:30 and ended up with a couple of small annoying blisters between my third and 4th toes. Nothing major and probably because I got sloppy by going faster.

I also got my first horn honk and "Yeah baby, go barefoot!" today from some random person driving by. I'll never run 5 minute miles so I appreciate the attention. Pretty cool day.

CJPHD
 
Yea, that sounds like a

Yea, that sounds like a pretty cool day.
 
 Alright, last of my posts on

Alright, last of my posts on this thread.

The stretching has helped a lot. I no longer have any TOFP whatsoever. Today was the big test with an 18 mile run in my Bikilas. Great, great, great!

May your stride be powerful and your calves be loose.

CJPHD
 
Great!  I'm glad you are over

Great! I'm glad you are over it! :party:
 
  I am so happy to have found

I am so happy to have found this post and information! I immediately got up and did the two stretches before sitting back down to continue reading!

I've had TOFP for a LONG time now, in regular shoes. Strange thing was, it was pretty much only hurting in the mornings when I'd first get out of bed, and after long periods of sitting/inactivity. It would always work itself out as I walked on it, and I didn't have issues while running.

I am very new to minimalist/BF running--I have VFF that I've done a mile here and there in, and I've walked in them and just today decided to stop wimping out and walked a little barefoot--it wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be! However...

I ran 11 on Sunday in my regular shoes and I felt my foot during the run--it was hurting pretty badly, but I either ended up ignoring it or it stopped hurting after a while. I must have ignored it because it's been PAINFUL all the time ever since! :-(

I iced it for the first couple days, which seemed to help a little, but I am home with two small boys, so lounging around healing isn't really an option! It looks like RICE is the best thing for it, but I don't have that luxury! I have been riding a stationary bike to cross train, but I want to run! I have another Marathon in...seven(!!!) weeks and I can't afford a hiccup like this in my training! I'm REALLY hoping these stretches will help!

In the meantime, do I really need to avoid walking/running until it stops hurting? Stay off it as much as possible? Keep icing and stretching, I guess, huh, and no more barefoot walks... :-(

This sucks! It seems like every single time I get myself into a groove I get injured or sick and it sets me back again! Grrrrrrrr!!!

Sorry. It's late and I'm venting.

Thanks for the info and I look forward to seeing if it helps!! *fingers crossed!*
 
Welcome, Spook.  What I

Welcome, Spook. What I suggest, you are not going to like... If your shoes are causing you this kind of pain and damage, you don't need to be looking forward to getting back in them to train AND race another 26.2. I think you should ditch the shoes, work on healing, work on getting your barefoot and/or minimalist miles up, and replan for another marathon next year...barefoot or minimal.


In the meantime, here's some really good info from Ken Bob about top of foot pain. I am sure it will answer many more of your questions. This is the thread about the info: http://www.barefootrunners.org/build2/forum-topic/how-long-normal-tofp; this is the info:


Here's an email I received from Ken Bob recently that is sure to help you:


There's actually a whole category on "Foot Pain"

http://therunningbarefoot.com/?cat=265

Some of my more recent posts on the top of foot pain (most related to the mis-use of minimalist footwear, to minimize feedback);

http://therunningbarefoot.com/?p=2684

http://therunningbarefoot.com/?p=1598


But for the post you're looking for, you gotta go back a couple years:

http://therunningbarefoot.com/?p=1186

I've revised the post since it's originally posting, as I discovered the exercises aren't needed. And some people (particularly ex-marines) we're trying to overdo, the gentle lifting of small weights, by increasing the weight, or trying to pull their entire body weight across their mattress when pressing "gently" against the edge of their mattress with the top of their foot.

Anyway, we can simply do the same exercise while running, that is, lift up the fore-foot, exercising the top of the foot, which is actually better, because you get about a thousand very gentle fore-foot lifts each mile you run, and avoid the excess strain of pushing off with the trailing foot (it's really difficult to push off while lifting the fore-foot), instead of trying to do the fore-foot lifts in a separate workout
 
I think everyone is different

I think everyone is different and everyone's body can accept different amounts of abuse. I can tell you that when I had TOFP, I pushed it too far and ended up with a stress fracture. I'm going into my 6th week of not being able to run. Obviously, in hindsight, I really wish I would have just given my foot a week or two to rest. Good luck whatever you decide!
 
How are you feeling, Fet? 

How are you feeling, Fet? Are you going to start running again soon, since the 6-week period is almost up? Take it slow and easy when you do, and keep us posted.
 
Thanks for asking, TJ.  My

Thanks for asking, TJ. My foot is feeling good; I've been taking a short barefoot walk everyday for the last week. I've tried to run a few steps just to see how it feels and it feels kind of...stiff. It doesn't hurt, but there's a slight bit of tenderness on the top of my foot if I push down hard. To tell you the truth, I'm kind of scared to run! I don't ever want to go this long w/o runnig again and I don't want to start too soon! And don't worry. I'm NOT going to hit the road doing a lot of miles! My 6 weeks is up next Tues. I remember the Doctor saying a little pain is okay, but that scares me now!

Do you have any words of wisdom?