Foot Injury

[LibraryLady]

Change socks! In Basic, I had a couple people laugh at me for changing socks at lunchtime when out at the ranges (march out and back) but they were told by the drills when they had blisters and I didn't that was a major reason. I grew up hiking with wet sweaty socks swinging from my pack because it was a great way to dry them. And scare off bears with the smell... lol

LL

 

[Lunch Pail]

Thank you @DocIllinois @x SF med @LibraryLady for the advice.


Good news: I was medically cleared to ship

Bad news: I was an idiot and pushed the intensity to high this past week and now have localized shin pain that is fairly severe. I could run through it but I know that is a recipe for disaster. After the 2 mile for time on Tuesday, I ran a 2.5 LSD and was feeling fine. The good idea fairy struck and I thought it would be a okay to do 5, .25 mile intervals on Saturday. That intensity is much lower than I was used to before and I thought I would be able to handle it. The pain is only in my left leg, so my theory is that since the walking boot took all the stress/pressure off my leg, it lost all its stress tolerance. I believe it to be purely a result from an increase in intensity because I was using the new shoes/insoles and my calf/soleus muscles are not tight from all the stretching I do.

Throughout all my years playing sports, I never had any injuries that made me miss games, so this is very frustrating. I am going to MEPS tomorrow to ship Tuesday, but I honestly do not see that happening. I could “forget” to mention this to the Doc and roll the dice hoping this would heal with the lack of running at Reception, but I do not want to start off my enlistment with a breach of integrity. Also, if it doesn’t heal I believe it could turn into something worse and then I would be sidelined even longer.

I have contacted my recruiter and am waiting for a response.

 

[SkrewzLoose]

Why would you not take the week before you ship to relax and avoid something like this happening? Your run times are not going to drop drastically by continuing to run an extra week up until the day you ship.
That being said, you should get yourself a lacrosse ball and use it to smash the shit out of your calves. It's not going to feel good while you're doing it, but it will help loosen up any muscle tightness that might be present.
This thread/injury is just over a month old. Just 2 weeks ago you were talking about slowly building your tolerance back up starting with slow 1 mile runs. And now you're talking about not mentioning lying about something that could be a serious injury to the folks at MEPS just so you're not "sidelined" even longer.
I don't mean to sound like a total dick, but it seems like you need to start exercising the muscle that's housed in the 6" between your ears a little more.
Just my $.02

 

[Ooh-Rah]

I imagining your recruiter got your message and said, "are you FUCKING kidding me?"

I sure wish you all the best, but boot camp is not the place to be trying to heal -

 

[Lunch Pail]

@SkrewzLoose You are absolutely right.

I am fully aware of how stupid and easily avoidable this was and deserve everything that comes with it. I posted the above to possibly help someone down the road not make the same mistake.

A point of clarification; I do not want to give the impression I was thinking about not disclosing my injury. I was searching google for possible situations similar to mine, and my poorly worded sentence was an attempt to convey that I had seen some advocate the "shut up and suck it up" approach.

I will shut up now though.

 

[DocIllinois]

Yet another key point here for hopefuls: recovery time and workout tapering is just as crucial as the workouts.

Ignore this guidance at your peril or, more crucially, to the detriment of people you've made promises to.


A good fitness reference for pre-ship newbies:

Army Pocket PT Guide


Additional reference for what fitness near targets to orient yourself toward before hitting Reception, paying special attention to the Safety Considerations section:

Soldier Life, Fitness and Nutrition

 

[Red Flag 1]

@SkrewzLoose You are absolutely right.

I am fully aware of how stupid and easily avoidable this was and deserve everything that comes with it. I posted the above to possibly help someone down the road not make the same mistake.

A point of clarification; I do not want to give the impression I was thinking about not disclosing my injury. I was searching google for possible situations similar to mine, and my poorly worded sentence was an attempt to convey that I had seen some advocate the "shut up and suck it up" approach.

I will shut up now though.