Carbon Fiber Plates - Too Rigid for Running / X1 Blades Extremely Helpful

Hello,

I had surgery in January 2009 to remove a bone spur on my left big toe. The doc said that this type of injury can stem from turf toe. I had turf toe in high school (10 years ago) and never got it treated. I began running longer distances (1 marathon, 2 halfs, 3rd in november) 2.5 years ago and started having issues last year with pain. I have the beginning of arthritis in the big toe joint.I was contemplating a joint replacement but felt that this was too much too soon and just opted for the bone spur removal. I wasn’t convinced that was going to work and felt it might prevent me even more from running. It took a while for me to get back into it as I didn’t fully recover from the surgery for at least 3-4 months (doc said 1-2). He gave me a carbon fiber plate to put in my shoe but it definitely was not good for running as it stiffened the entire shoe and made running uncomfortable.  

Typical Carbon Fiber Plate - Too Rigid for Athletics

Luckily I found a different plate that is more flexible throughout but still stiff where you need it (beneath the big toe). It is called the X1-Blade made by indiana brace (http://02b20d1.netsolstores.com/X1BladeforTurfToePain.aspx) for help with turf toe. I found this extremely helpful in getting back into running. I read testimonials and talked to the guy who makes them. I recommend this before any other surgery and wish I knew about this 10 years ago.

 Best of luck,

Mike, 28