Omigod!

That was my reaction when I left Albuquerque physical therapist's office. He's very thorough and astute when it comes to trouble-shooting feet and I'm very happy that I went to him.

His office is a small, separate building next to his house. He asked me to tell him my problem, looked at my shoes and noticed signs on the right front shoe that I twist my forefoot as I walk. He had me stand on a non-moving treadmill and studied my feet. He pointed out that when my feet are relaxed and the arch collapses inward that he can't easily lift my big toe up but can when I purposely raise my arch. I can't completely recall the significance of that but be related to the overstretching of my plantar fascia when I walk.

He had me walk back and forth and observed that my right foot pronates inward a whole lot and thought that my right leg went inward too. He compared the right and left foot for looseness or snugness of the ligaments and found my right foot ligaments to be lax. He gives classes in anatomy of the foot and says he's always amazed at the spider web of ligaments under the arch of the foot that are holding all the bones together.

I hope he writes up a report because I forget a lot of what he said. I pick up the orthotics tomorrow and I hope they help me to walk better. Basically, my poor foot biomechanics are causing lots of overuse of my plantar fascia (which, he said, is very strong and with each step supports up to 2 1/2 times your body weight) and my posterior tibial tendon.

Tomorrow, he'll show me some stretches and exercises to do.

I did all right staying awake for the drive back and forth - tea and chocolate helped - but, man, that's a big commute! I called spouse 5 times today to see if he was still stable and he is. He may ride down with me tomorrow.

I stopped to worship at the Temple of Vitamin Cottage in Santa Fe!