My Journey With Health And Fitness – Finding New Ways To Be More Comfortable

This weekend my husband and I are going up to do some more work at the trailer and will spend a couple nights there. Since I am now always planning how I am going to get my workouts in I checked the weather and couldn’t believe what I saw. Apparently in Mission BC on Saturday there will be a chance of snow. What!!!! It is the end of March, how can we be getting snow? I really hope that forecast changes before we get to the trailer. However, I will be prepared for it to be on the cold side and take the appropriate running gear so that I don’t have an excuse not to run.

Over the past couple months I have really gotten back on the fitness bandwagon. I’ll never quite understand what happened during the 6 months when I really scaled back but my head is now in a space where once I get back to peak form I am going to stay there. I have been doing everything I can to keep myself motivated and pushing myself not to the limit but in my mind getting rid of the laziness. But, to be honest, I am a 57 year old woman who suffers from osteoarthritis in one of my knees and I have issues with the muscles around one of my hips. Moreover, some days my feet and ankles ache (note, I don’t mean debilitating pain, just enough that I have become one of those people who tends to groan when I stand up). I decided if I am going to sustain my fitness over the long term I need to look at how I can make myself more comfortable.

I’ve been hearing some ads on the radio about runners and foot orthotics and I decided to do some research to see if this would be a good idea for me. Turns out good orthotics do a lot of things for people like me who walk/run a lot. The list includes helping with gait abnormalities, alignment not just through the feet but the rest of your body, stabilize your posture and help with preventative care (plantar fasciitis, shin splints, blisters, hammer toe, tendonitis to name a few). The more I researched the more I realized that this would probably be a good investment for me.

I know that you can buy over the counter orthotics but I figured it is kind of go big or go home time, I want to make sure I get the best fit orthotics that will make the most difference. I went for an assessment with a pedorthist who did a bunch of tests on my gait. There was then measurement of my muscle agility followed by an assessment of the actual structure of my feet. While I appreciate they are selling a product here, I truly believe they have identified some issues that can be rectified and make my training more comfortable. Let’s be honest, more comfortable means not having an excuse to stop.

Now these orthotics are not cheap, with the assessment they will cost about $600. I am willing to spend that kind of money but it looks like if I can get a referral from my doctor the cost will likely be covered by my extended health plan (I could also go through my podiatrist but that visit would cost me another $60). Tomorrow I have a call with my doctor to get the referral and if all goes well I will have my first fitting for my custom orthotics March 30th.

It’s funny, when I started down this journey I was willing to invest in proper running gear, expensive socks, really expensive running shoes yet had never considered investing in orthotics. It’ll be interesting to see how much I regret not looking into this sooner.