For over two years I have kick started my morning by skipping the elevator ride down from my apartment. Depending on the day, I walk, slog, bound and, recently, hobble down the 37 flights of stairs that separate my apartment from street level. It seemed like the healthy thing to do.
Last week that stopped. Over the past few months my achilles tendons have become more and more painful. It’s gotten the point where I am afraid to even make a quick dash across the road. Two bulges in the tendon tug and pull and it is to the point that I have visions of a tendon rupture whenever I make an explosive start.
Now, I take the elevator.
Health and Wellness is a Process
Health and wellness is a process. At it’s best, it is a process of finding out what doesn’t work and replacing it with something that works better. One little change may not alter things too much but days, weeks, months and a lifetime of stacking good habits and good attitudes will make us invincible, or so goes the logic.
Choices and Synergy
I believe in small steps. A way to awesomeness is stacking good habits together. But, sometimes there is more to it. A good habit plus a good habit doesn’t always equal a step forward.
Hopefully, we figure out quickly when things aren’t working to our advantage. For me, green tea is good and bananas are good. Green tea and bananas together, however, make me feel sick and nauseous. It didn’t take long to figure that one out.
Some things are trickier though, my achilles being an excellent example. The problem arose out of an attempt to rectify another issue. I have been on a quest to help my achy, stiff feet with their twisted toes become happy, supple and healthy. Years of running in too small shoes have taken their toll. My efforts have worked to a great degree. Thanks to yoga, toe spacers, wide toe boxes, exercises and as much barefoot time as I can muster, there have been incredible improvements and I have been walking and running without pain for a few years.
That’s why the achilles pain was such a shocker. The achilles is basically a part of the foot, right. It attaches right at the heel. If my feet feel good, my achilles tendons should be happy campers too.
The problem
I had a hunch that there was a simple reason but I just couldn’t figure out what it was.
After a few months of wondering, “is this what getting older is like,” I had an epiphany. The first part of the eipiphany was, “no this is not what getting older is like.” The second part was that I had stacked one too many “good” things together and two of them were in a negative synergy.
In my quest for better feet, I had injured myself by doing too much “good”. I have been transitioning to more and more natural shoes. “Natural” meaning, among other things, zero heel lift in the shoe. It’s been a slow process. Years in fact. Only in the last six months have I been almost completely heel lift free.
It turned out that my newest shoes had about 1/8” less heel lift than the previous ones. That 1/8” of stretch over and over as I walked down the stairs added up to cause a real injury.
Now, I’m riding the elevator and wearing shoes that are a bit more conventional as I recover. And, once I’m able, I restart my pursuit of that extra 1/8th inch of achilles flexibility.
The Point
The point is this. It is possible that our best intentions, the things that are beneficial in isolation, can combine to cause problems. Even when we are “taking care” of ourselves, we should be in constant evaluation mode and always on the lookout for unintended consequences and unwelcome synergies.
What are your unwelcome synergies?
Last week that stopped. Over the past few months my achilles tendons have become more and more painful. It’s gotten the point where I am afraid to even make a quick dash across the road. Two bulges in the tendon tug and pull and it is to the point that I have visions of a tendon rupture whenever I make an explosive start.
Now, I take the elevator.
Health and Wellness is a Process
Health and wellness is a process. At it’s best, it is a process of finding out what doesn’t work and replacing it with something that works better. One little change may not alter things too much but days, weeks, months and a lifetime of stacking good habits and good attitudes will make us invincible, or so goes the logic.
Choices and Synergy
I believe in small steps. A way to awesomeness is stacking good habits together. But, sometimes there is more to it. A good habit plus a good habit doesn’t always equal a step forward.
Hopefully, we figure out quickly when things aren’t working to our advantage. For me, green tea is good and bananas are good. Green tea and bananas together, however, make me feel sick and nauseous. It didn’t take long to figure that one out.
Some things are trickier though, my achilles being an excellent example. The problem arose out of an attempt to rectify another issue. I have been on a quest to help my achy, stiff feet with their twisted toes become happy, supple and healthy. Years of running in too small shoes have taken their toll. My efforts have worked to a great degree. Thanks to yoga, toe spacers, wide toe boxes, exercises and as much barefoot time as I can muster, there have been incredible improvements and I have been walking and running without pain for a few years.
That’s why the achilles pain was such a shocker. The achilles is basically a part of the foot, right. It attaches right at the heel. If my feet feel good, my achilles tendons should be happy campers too.
The problem
I had a hunch that there was a simple reason but I just couldn’t figure out what it was.
After a few months of wondering, “is this what getting older is like,” I had an epiphany. The first part of the eipiphany was, “no this is not what getting older is like.” The second part was that I had stacked one too many “good” things together and two of them were in a negative synergy.
In my quest for better feet, I had injured myself by doing too much “good”. I have been transitioning to more and more natural shoes. “Natural” meaning, among other things, zero heel lift in the shoe. It’s been a slow process. Years in fact. Only in the last six months have I been almost completely heel lift free.
It turned out that my newest shoes had about 1/8” less heel lift than the previous ones. That 1/8” of stretch over and over as I walked down the stairs added up to cause a real injury.
Now, I’m riding the elevator and wearing shoes that are a bit more conventional as I recover. And, once I’m able, I restart my pursuit of that extra 1/8th inch of achilles flexibility.
The Point
The point is this. It is possible that our best intentions, the things that are beneficial in isolation, can combine to cause problems. Even when we are “taking care” of ourselves, we should be in constant evaluation mode and always on the lookout for unintended consequences and unwelcome synergies.
What are your unwelcome synergies?
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