After I tweaked my ankle two weeks ago, I reconsidered purchasing an over the counter ankle brace that is supposed to help with Posterior Tibialis Tendon Dysfunction (PTTD). It was something I had looked into before and it is called the Aircast PTTD brace which is only available for sale over the internet. After reading through the features, I figured I had nothing to lose by trying it and see if it relieves my pain.
So I ordered it from a company in Florida and it was supposed to be delivered by Monday. I was tracking the shipment online at the UPS website and it was already approaching 7 P.M. (the time when they stop delivering for the day). At about 6:50 I went to the security gate to check if they had missed me and left me a notice. I didn’t see any. At 7:10 I checked again and found a notice. I don’t think the UPS driver even tried to contact me since I left very specific instructions on how to contact me from the security gate. Maybe he was running late and was in a hurry to get back home. Anyway I had forgiven him after I received the product on Tuesday. I didn’t even mention that he was remiss the previous day.
Well the product arrived a few hours too late for my Tuesday run so I’ll have to wait to try to run with it on Thursday. What I was able to do was try it on to see how it felt. The brace has two rigid plastic supports on the inner and outer side, a couple of straps to hold it against the ankle, and an air bladder on the posterior tibialis area which you can pump up with an air pump that came with it. The idea is to support the tendon with the air bladder and restrict the side to side motion of the ankle with the plastic supports. I guess this is the over the counter version of the more expensive, available by prescription only, customized Richie Brace. The Richie Brace costs about $800.00, while the Aircast is about $50.00.
Well, we shall have to wait and see if the Aircast works. I don’t expect too much from it, but if it relieves the pain even a little bit and not make matters worse, then it would be good enough.
3 comments:
Good luck with the ankle brace! It seems like the right thing for you. I am curious to hear how your next run goes when you wear this brace. I ran with a brace when I was recovering from a bad sprain. I used it for 3 weeks but very cautiously (used run/walk 2:1, only ran on flat dirt, and gradually increased the running time). It helped a lot even though I could only shuffle but at least I was running again!
Linda, I don't what to expect when running with a brace, it feels strange even just walking in the living room with it.
It looks like a pretty ingenious brace system! Something like that might really help my uncle. His ankle is recovering slowly because it just can't be held still enough. I'll have to show this to him. Thiago | http://www.streetrdrx.com/medical-equipment.html
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