Hi everyone! I’m a male from New Zealand and was born in 1987 with a left clubfoot.
I’ll keep this as concise as possible…
I had two surgeries as an infant, and another two at twelve and thirteen years old the foot had started to rotate back inwards again). I had a normal childhood, no pain and was able to do everything any other kid would do. My foot was fused at age 12 which limited the movement.
I made the mistake of giving up physical activity (sport, exercise and a manual job) when I went to study at age 19, and also through taking on a largely sedentary job. Looking back, I can see that I wasn’t able to stand or walk unaffected for nearly as long once I gave it up, and began feeling regular pain. I also started using my foot as an excuse as to why I couldn’t play sport, go for walks with friends, which only made things worse as you can imagine.
I decided a couple of years ago that I needed to do something (was suffering all kinds of health problems) so took up basketball again and joined a netball team for the first time (I’m 6’5″ so this type of game suits me). I noticed significant improvement in my foot just by participating in these activities, however pain also accompanies it (plus regular tripping up…).
In January my workmate challenged me to participate in a 5km off-road running race (I have never run before except what was required at school). I accepted this challenge and completed the race, and have my next one (a 10km off-road race) tomorrow. I’m seeing more improvement in my foot through running, albeit a significant increase in pain.
So a month ago, I undertook some training in self healing (like massage, movement, bodywork) with the intention to work on my foot and leg, as I had a feeling that long term, I might see gradual deterioration in my body (this was based on intuition and not any medical guidance). This was all the way over in San Francisco. I found some immediate improvement at the school and was equipped with enough knowledge to continue working on myself when I got back home. Now it’s a case of putting it into practice and being consistent with this work.
The main finding was that the loss of function at my foot was affecting my ankle, then leg, knee, hip back, neck… You get the picture. So it’s really important for me to deal with the foot first. It will be a long process due to the current condition.
I am wondering whether this is of any interest to anyone in a similar situation (lots of surgical scar tissue etc.)? I will be happy to provide some updates over time with how it is going if there is some interest. If anyone has any questions, I’m more than happy to answer them!
Anton
Hi Anton
Good for you, I would echo a similar story t you, I had 2 talpies feet and 1 fused later on at age 7. im 34 now and pain was always the case when doing sports such as soccer football etc, and I managed to climb the himlayas and some mountains in your neck of the woods when i lived in New zealand, although I was never an athletic, once I got a sedentary job and kids my body got worse all over,, pain stemming from feet to hips and back, in the last year I have changed my lifestyle, now at age 34 I run around 15 miles a week, cycle 20, and weight train 3 times a week, and im doing a triathalon in June. the pains have gone, as long as I do not exceed a running distance of 12 miles in one run then my ankles are fine, my advice to anyone with a similar club foot is keep moving keep active and keep challenged and watch the aches and pains disappear.
Hi Jon,
Thank you for the support and for reading my story. Great to hear what you have been able to achieve, I’m finding the same thing, the more I do, the better it gets. I’m now playing three games of netball a week (one competitively, two social) and running 6-10km twice a week, and am looking at getting back into some mountain biking.
All the best, I look forward to hearing how the triathlon goes in a couple of months.
Cheers
Anton