I'm A Freak

I'm a freak because I have an extra bone in my foot that's not supposed to be there. I got the MRI results last week and this is what they found.

So earlier last week we thought I had a Navicular Stress Fracture. Turns out that it's not fractured but I have an Accessary Navicular Bone. I guess this can cause a problem called Accessary Navicular Syndrome. I think most often this doesn't cause any issues in people but some people with this extra bone develop a painful condition known as accessory navicular syndrome when the bone and/or posterior tibial tendon are aggravated.

An accessory navicular is congenital (present at birth). It is not part of normal bone structure and therefore is not present in most people. Only about 10% of the population have this crazy little bone. I'm wondering if I have it in my left foot too. But, I'm not about to pay another $3200 for a MRI just o know. Good news is that it doesn't need to be removed and I can live with but the bad news is that I might have more chances of the bother my posterior tibial tendon.

My primary doctor wanted to throw me in a cast right away for 6 weeks. I was apprehensive, as you'd expect. With a wedding in 8 short weeks, a full race season planned, and the inability to drive with a full calf cast I wasn't crazy about this solution before trying something more conservative first. I immediately made an appointment with a podiatrist who determined I just have tendinitis of my posterior tibial tendon and he felt that cast was a last resort solution. I LIKE THIS GUY!!!! I guess accessory navicular syndrome is a fancy way of saying tendinitis but he didn't seem to think it was related to the fact that I have this special little bone anyway.

SO....he prescribed some physical therapy, heat, massage, ankle exercises, and a heel cup and new superfeet in my shoes. We're going to do this for 2 weeks and see how it helps and then I'll go back and see him. If it doesn't help we might have to look at immobilizing (cast or walking boot) and do custom orthotics at some point. I've been doing this for about 4 days and it's already feeling better. Granted, I haven't run on it yet and that was usually what aggravated it the most but for most of February & March it ached just to walk around on it and it's not doing that anymore. I'm being really cautious and hyper sensitive to any unusual feeling in that spot just to be sure. Even better news is that he told me I could continue any form of exercise I wanted, including running, as long as there was no pain during or after. So far I've been continuing the swimming and lots of biking and there is no fatigue or pain at all. I'm anxious to try a short run this week and see how it goes.

Fingers crossed for continued success!