Bouncy jumpy things. Ducks.

A few days ago I mentioned spring-steel contraptions, worn on the lower leg, that enabled the wearer to jump very high.

I found them!

For the enjoyment of my duck-collecting friends, here is Celebriducks (requires flash 6).

Home Depot haul

There are two (sometimes three) control dealies on my nightstand, and I now have ways to affix those to a wall. I suppose I could put them on the side of the nightstand instead. Either way I can put something useful ON the nightstand, like Kleenex.

I also have a timer for the bathroom. I'll want to set that up to turn on an electric heater just before I get in there in the morning. (For readers just now tuning in, our furnace doesn't work. We're unlikely to bother fixing it until fall.)

Woohoo! Little creature comforts.

Foot update: NO BICYCLES

I'm back on painkillers anti-inflams, after spending yesterday evening curled up in a ball of abdominal pain. I forgot that would jump out and attack me if I took away the NSAIDs. Oops.

I haven't had many. Definitely limping strongly this morning. Well, that tells me one thing: most of the "progress" I thought I had seen was not permanent. Most of the improvement went away as soon as the meds did.

Went to the local bike shop on a fact-finding mission. I asked about mounting a toe clip to my heel, and they said NONONONO you don't want your knee to come too far over your toe (or something like that). They pointed me at a pedorthist down at the end of the strip mall. He basically said stay off bicycles. I can walk, swim, run in water, or try out different kinds of cushions and what-not when attempting to run, but STAY THE @#$! OFF BICYCLES.

Okay then. I think I'll stay off bicycles. That's easy, frankly; I don't like biking. Somewhere in the world there must be one last bicyclist who hasn't yet told me to switch over, and now I have an excuse to use when that person finally breaks down and suggests it.

The pedorthist also suggested some other stuff, like correct placement of a metatarsal pad, why I should tie my shoes more tightly, and the usefulness of a firmer sole. Cool. Bit by bit I'm getting more educated about the biomechanics of this problem.

Book Reviews

My Amazon order came in. I promised reviews.

1) Acupressure's Potent Points: Not a word about foot pain. (A few pages on "foot and ankle pain" are all, without exception, about the ankle.) This isn't yet a definitive review but I suspect this one's not what I'm looking for. It's just not chock-full of detail.

2) Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: I LEARNED SOMETHING! In ten minutes I learned a LOT, actually. I can now identify muscles I previously didn't even know existed. I bet this book is going to be AWESOME.

The most exciting thing I learned: there's a syndrome called "Morton's foot." (Presumably Morton's feet are prone to Morton's neuroma... I dunno.) Anyway, it's a situation where the second metatarsal is longer than the first. I'd read about problems stemming from the second toe being longer than the first, which mine isn't, so I mostly ignored them... but the second metatarsal? So I bent my toes down to see where the bumps on the top of the foot showed up. My second metatarsal is noticeably longer! I have this type of foot! And GUESS what it's prone to. GUESS. Yep, it sounds remarkably like the sort of pain I've got. SURPRISE! And... this book has suggestions for what to do with it. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

This is a hopeful development. I shall keep you posted, my faithful readers. :)

(Also coming up soon: a review of Egoscue's "Pain Free for Women".)

Hi rfrench

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROB!

He's in Florida right now, calling a C4 square dance weekend.