The Woes of Broken Toes

Well, I'm not going to lie, it's been a very tough Summer for me and part of that has been due to breaking a bone in my toe! As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I felt that there had been little support from my GP, or the hospital during the recovery process. I had an appointment for another X-Ray and an information PDF from my GP but by this time, I was no longer concerned about the bone and it as all a bit too late!

Anyway, since then, I have been surprised, yet again, at how slow progress has been! I'm a very active person with a lot of energy and this broken bone business has really taken its toll, not just on my foot, but on my whole fitness level. Believe it or not, I still can't walk properly and I definitely can't walk fast! This means that I can't run and that means, no tennis! Urggggrrrraaaaahhhhh!!! And so the uphill battle of restoring my body to full health has already begun...

I don't know how other people have managed to restore their bodies after such injuries but for me, I have employed a schedule of yoga, body conditioning, gentle weight training, walking, rowing, and ballet! Two of the things that has bothered me the most, which I realise are actually the least important things, were losing my flexibility and not being able to point my foot!

I know you're probably sitting there thinking, silly girl, so trivial... but these two things are very important to dancers and even ex-dancers! I'm extremely tapped into my body and to experience it feeling like the rusty tin man from the Wizard of OZ, makes me feel horrible! My toe affected my ability to stretch properly, so this is something I am determined to get back as soon as possible!

The stiffness in my foot has restricted me from being able to point my foot, another ballet dancer thing! The thing about my feet is that I wasn't blessed with natural big arched ballet feet! When I was little, my ballet teachers made me stick my toes under my bed and push my knees down to the ground, in order to force the arch in my feet. I suppose they may use a different technique nowadays but that's how it was done in my day. It worked and funny enough my feet were photographed for a ballet book with Dame Darcey Bussell, which is ironic indeed!

Through my healing journey, I realised how much I take my body's health for granted and how arrogant I have been, thinking that I could just take my boot off and expect my body to be back to normal in two weeks! Being a person who always looks for the silver-lining, this has been a tough lesson in patience, if nothing else!

What I can say, is that if you have broken a bone, and are going through the healing period, brace yourself... it will be a long recovery time but you WILL recover and when you do, you will appreciate your body and all the things it allows you to do, so much more!

Run, climb trees, play sports, dance, while you can!

♥ Anna-Christina