Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Not Chuffed

I find the word "chuffed" incredibly appealing. Unfortunately, it sounds totally stupid coming out of my mouth. I'm not chuffed about that, not at all.

I have a boo boo. The outer side of my right foot hurts sometimes, inside, not on the skin. I think it started last winter, maybe a fall during skiing? (At which point I'm sure I was thinking about how much my bum or pride hurt.) And then I figured, well, it will just get better.

And mostly, it did.

Except I spent this whole month in London walking and walking and walking a lot. And every night, my feet hurt. But that's just walking. But then this outside of my foot thing was also a part of it. But you know, me being me, that I'm not going to stop and put my foot up for six weeks, not while I'm in London, not while there's biking to be done, or playing outside, or whatever. I'm just not that good.

I've been playing outside a fair bit (aka running really slowly) in my magical five fingers. Usually, my feet are fine and happy after playing outside (the lawns here are lovely, and it's okay to run on them!) but today, my foot didn't feel so great.

I am not chuffed about this, either.

Bleargh. I'm pretty sure what I should do is rest it for three or six weeks or whatever as much as possible. (I'm a total whuss, and pretty sure there's nothing broken or anything, because my whussitude is such that I wouldn't be able to walk for 5 or 7+ hours on it if something was broken, and I've done that pretty regularly around here.)

But I'm also pretty sure that I'm just going to muddle through with it because there's too much to see and do.

Can I ask: when you're being all touristy and walking around from, say, 9 to 6, with maybe an hour sitting (subways, lunch, etc) in there, do your feet ache for HOURS and not want to walk until morning at least? Please tell me I'm not the only total whuss.

***

Two good classes today. Tomorrow, poetry for some students. I hope they don't hate it.

10 comments:

  1. Unless I have the world's best pair of shoes, yes, I most certainly do. With the world's best pair of shoes, my feet ache for not quite so long!

    I would not be chuffed with aching feet. I would be chuffed with good classes on the horizon!

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  2. Try soaking your feet in ice water at the end of the day (or alternate hot and ice water). Also, try massaging the bottom/side of your foot with a golf ball or similar thing (stand on one foot and roll the other one around on the ball). If you feel a tight/tender spot, just hold it until it releases. (I am not a medical professional of any sort, but being a dancer/dance teacher am used to sore feet!).

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  3. Welcome to the fact that you are not actually Wonder Woman. 5 or 7 hours on your feet? That's enough to give you permission to say "Oh god my dogs are barkin'!" in a good southern drawl. At least that's what my family does...

    Actually soaking and massage sounds really nice, even aside from the aching feet.

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  4. I too, love "chuffed" I especially love it preceded by the adjective "dead" as in "I was dead chuffed."

    Also, elevate your feet when you get home - some of the aching might be from swelling, and the elevation (in addition to soaking) helps.

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  5. What everyone else said, plus maybe try ibuprofen.

    I love "chuffed" too; it doesn't have a perfect equivalent in American English, though "stoked" is close. "Chuffed" makes me think of someone puffing happily up like a satisfied pigeon, though, and "stoked" is more about having that internal fire roar up.

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  6. Oh, the aching feet! Every summer, when I go over, I realize anew how much it hurts to be on my feet all day. And I usually have great shoes! So, yes, to all the remedies offered so far, especially regarding putting your feet up (preferably with a cuppa or a pint).

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  7. Thanks for the kind words, all!

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  8. richard5:35 AM

    You know, if it's the extreme outside portion of your foot that hurst all the time, you could have fractured the outermost bone when you fell. There's a name for that kind of break--very common with basketball and tennis players--and it is something that you can walk on for weeks with intermittent pain. I would get it looked at, if you can.

    Note that I'm not a doctor--I just play one in blog comments.

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  9. Like Richard, I was going to suggest that you go see a doctor. The fact that it's been hurting since last winter means that it's more than just spending so much time on your feet this past month (although that alone would indeed be making my feet ache).

    If "chuffed" doesn't roll off the tongue, try adding "gobsmacked" and "whinge" to your vocabulary. I love all three words, but the last is the only one that I can convincingly pull off in my own speech.

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  10. Bardiac, I have the same kind of footpain (on both feet), and after MRIs and such, it turned out that a minor deformity in my littlest toes (they don't straighten past 90 degrees) means that a nerve is being repeatedly pinched. Technically, it's a kind of neuroma, but not the most common kind.

    Long story short: custom orthotics. I have to replace them every six months or so, and only wear them in some shoes, but they totally fixed the problem, and are mostly covered by my insurance. It's a prescription call, but it's definitely worth a look.

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