Last weekend while out riding with my spouse (I was on my Yamaha T-Max scooter), I went to pull out of a gas station parking lot, lost my balance, and did one of those Arte Johnson-style no-speed tip-overs. The sum total of my “injuries” were a couple of minor bruises and a sore spot on my left ankle where I kind of torqued it funny into the top part of my boot (my riding boots are ankle-high and very rigid, so when I bent my foot forward it pushed the front part of my lower shin pretty hard against the top of the boot. I got right back on the bike and headed home with no further problems.
Over the past week or so I haven’t really noticed anything problematic–still have a couple of healing bruises including one on the aforementioned front part of my shin.
This weekend my heel started hurting. Only when I walked on it (no pain when sitting or lying down, only with weight on it), and it feels like one of those bruises you get when you step down really hard on a rock in your bare feet–only I didn’t do that. As the weekend progressed I noticed a little pain in my shin and calf (I suspect these are related to walking funny to favor my heel).
I’m one of those people who hardly ever gets sick or hurt and doesn’t think to call a doctor unless I’m dying (which thank goodness has never happened!) or if I’m in need of my yearly check-up. The spouse thinks I should call the doctor, but I’m tempted to just wait a couple more days and see if it starts to improve on its own.
What do you guys think? The pain isn’t anything I can’t live with–it’s more annoying than anything–but it’s definitely there. It just seems weird that it wouldn’t show up until a week after the “accident.” Does that happen?
Yes i think it’s normal to have delayed pain. If you ask most folks who have been in an auto accident they’ll tell you the next day is when their whole body hurts.
I had a really bad ankle sprain and I did get it xray’d. But honestly, there’s not much they can do anyway. I researched via internet what sort of stretching and strengthening exercises I should do for the quickest recovery (ankle rotations & flexing) and who knows if it helped or not. It took almost a year to recover and 2 1/2 years later I still have a bruise, some swelling, and soreness.
You can get some Ace bandage like wraps at Walgreens or CVS for support. Are you icing it? Doc told me to ice & elevate for a few days. Unfortunately there’s not much to do for the bruising.
PurpleClogs: Good idea about the Ace bandage. I’m not icing it–I’ll give that a try and see if it helps. It’s already feeling better than it did this morning–I think at this point I’m just going to take care of it, try to stay off it as much as possible, try the ice/Ace thing, and hope for the best.
Napier: Way to scare the hypochondriac! But I’m pretty sure my leg isn’t fixin’ to fall off or anything. And as I mentioned, it’s feeling better so I think I’ll wait and see. If it starts hurting worse again, I’ll be off to the doc.
more specific on what part of your heel hurts, toward the arch, toward the back part of your heel?, does the pain subside the more you walk on it or hurt more when you walk on it first thing in the morning?
Here’s a WAG. You mention bending your foot forward so as to push your shin against the top of your boot. If I’m envisioning that correctly, you flexed your foot? Is it possible that in doing so you irritated the plantar fascia? Plantar fasciitis can cause heel pain of the kind you describe.
stoplight: It hurts on the bottom part of my heel. It feels exactly like the sort of bruise you get when you step down hard on a rock in your bare feet, only there’s no bruise there. And it only hurts when I walk on it, not when I push on it.
Arrendajo: I can see our priorities are the same! Fortunately the scooter came out of it with only a few minor cosmetic scrapes. Didn’t even bust off the light-stalk on the front.
freckafree: I looked up plantar fascitis, and that does sound a lot like what I’m feeling. Even the part about it hurting more first thing in the morning. Maybe I did stretch things out when I bent my foot. I’ll give it a few days of babying it (fortunately I telecommute so I don’t have to go out much and I don’t have to be on my feet all day) and see how it goes, and if it doesn’t improve I’ll go see the doctor.
Oh, absolutely. Between the spouse and me, we have three bikes–two motorcycles and a scooter. We’ve been riding since 1991 (actually me since 1984, which is the last time I had an Arte Johnson-style zero-speed tip-over). So not planning to quit any time soon.
(I’m just thankful that if I’m going to have accidents, they’re these kind instead of the “real” kind.)
But I’m pretty sure my leg isn’t fixin’ to fall off or anything. And as I mentioned, it’s feeling better so I think I’ll wait and see. If it starts hurting worse again, I’ll be off to the doc.
Fortunately the scooter came out of it with only a few minor cosmetic scrapes. Didn’t even bust off the light-stalk on the front.
