Boulder to London

You may recall that I’ve been having problems with my ankle / foot for the past year.  One of my New Year’s resolutions was to get this looked at so that I could start running again and maybe do a half marathon or two this year.  I asked around and was recommended to a place called Phyio4life down in Putney.  Whilst the place isn’t exactly close to where I live or work. I was told that it is the best place in London and that they will fix me up.  So far I have been down 3 or 4 times.  The first time was an initial consultation where Mark ran a few tests and checked out the ankle.  He wasn’t sure what was wrong with it at this point so he gave me a few exercises to try out and scheduled a bio-mechanical assessment the next week.  When I came back for the bio-mechanical assessment, I was absolutely amazed by the use of technology.  He filmed me on a treadmill to check my stride, how I land when running and the alignment of my feet, legs and body when running.  He then had my walk across something called a ‘Gaitscan’ which checks how my foot lands and pushes off when walking.  I was surprised how different my right and left foot were.  After the bio-mechanical assessment it was recommended that I get orthotics to put in my running shoes.  They weren’t cheap, but hopefully worth it.

The third and fourth visits were used for acupuncture.  I had never had this done before, but Mark explained that it is a way to create a micro injury on the site of the pain to stimulate the healing process.  His thought is that I either have arthritis or an impingement that is the result of a ankle sprain that I suffered almost 10 years ago.  After two sessions of acupuncture and the new set of orthotics, my ankle is feeling much better.  He’s also given me some exercises to do in the gym to build stability.  I definitely recommend Mark and the team at Physi04Life and if all goes well, I’ll be running full time again shortly.