Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Treadmill desk as a software developer - injury

So a couple of days after my last post, I did have a treadmill related injury.... sort of. It wasn't cringe-worthy youtube kind of injury. It wasn't even an injury that was ON the treadmill.

I was turning left to go into my closet and something BAD happened within my calf. It was crippling and I could barely put weight on that leg for two days. I used a lot of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) and was able to start bearing weight again.

My theory is that being on the treadmill, is that given it is a very straight and even surface for such long durations (10+ miles) and low impact, that I have been over developing my "walk straight muscles". So when I went to turn a corner, my now weaker "turn muscles", were literally squeezed out of place by my others.... It is my theory anyways.

Some loose proof that I have that supports this, is that while I was recovering, I was acutely aware of variations in the ground, unevenness, and different textures.

So now that I'm recovered and nearly able to to 10 miles again, I'm spending more time on the treadmill walking sideways. I'm also stretching mulitple times a day, using foam rollers and hard massage balls, and making sure that I spend more time off the treadmill and outside on the un-even sidewalks.