Not the most cheerful of questions, sorry to be a bummer : Anyone have experience in windsurfing with feet neuropathy ?

Been diagnosed with CIDP, a rare "light" form of MS that goes for your feet+hands. Mostly middle aged men, hence my hope on this forum. Dr looks at me blankly when I ask how to prolong my windsurfing, as it will be a hard day for me if/when I have to stop.

If anyone can give me some feedback on similar conditions to improve my understanding and how to work around it for windsurfing I would much appreciate it. Am at the early stage so not a big deal so far, and it may never be dramatic - fingers crossed.

I had hoped to do DefiWind this year, but probably
not a great idea. Keeping injury to minimum seems imperative - softer straps, booties and seat harness on order. Plan B is back to strapless kitesurfing. Could be worse.

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Jasonwave said..

Not the most cheerful of questions, sorry to be a bummer : Anyone have experience in windsurfing with feet neuropathy ?

Been diagnosed with CIDP, a rare "light" form of MS that goes for your feet+hands. Mostly middle aged men, hence my hope on this forum. Dr looks at me blankly when I ask how to prolong my windsurfing, as it will be a hard day for me if/when I have to stop.

If anyone can give me some feedback on similar conditions to improve my understanding and how to work around it for windsurfing I would much appreciate it. Am at the early stage so not a big deal so far, and it may never be dramatic - fingers crossed.

I had hoped to do DefiWind this year, but probably
not a great idea. Keeping injury to minimum seems imperative - softer straps, booties and seat harness on order. Plan B is back to strapless kitesurfing. Could be worse.

Sorry to hear mate.

My wife had neuropathy from chemo. Not a windsurfer, however there were avenues including medication, message, magnesium supplements etc. that she explored to help

its risky to start taking vitamins if you have underlying issues and are on other medications so you should really push your doctor harder to help find solutions and confirm what you can and can't take

there are also specialist in neuropathy that might be able to help.

Are you worried about the potential loss of sensation in your feet affecting your control of the gear, or are you more worried about injuring the bottom of your feet due to loss of sensation.

Because it is limited to hands and feet is it unlikely to have significant impact on your ability to move your feet/ankles and grasp/manipulate objects?

My foot neuropathy expresses as sharp stabs of pain in my feet at night. This happens about once every three months or so. Not to be confused with gout, which is completely different.

Yes, there are medical specialists for it.

My solution has been to eat red beets. Beets are known to increase circulation. I have better luck with fresh beets cooked. Packaged beets, beetroot powder, beet juice, and beet chewables can work, but, in my case, fresh cooked have always been the best. I know my system is full of beetness when my p and p are red tinged.

It will be gradual nerve/muscle degeneration. Not bad yet, just starting with loss of sensation - my concern here is doing myself premature damage eg feet in straps. Doctors all seem lacking in experience when throwing a sport like this in the mix, and am told to take a holistic view whatever that means. Kinda torn between throwing in the towel and refusing to stop the sport that keeps me dreaming. So clues to help keep going is where Im at I guess.

I know a guy who had a very bad leg injury when younger. He sails boards without straps. Understand it's a different vibe but the windsurfer Lt is his setup.

Windfoiling? Booties are a good idea anyway, but can easily be done strapless or with half-straps.

Also gives you a new challenge. Sailing in a straight line is easy enough if crossing over from fin windsurfing, but everything else becomes new again.

can also use much smaller sails = lighter rig

I doubt windsurfing can accelerate your neuropathy. So maybe just sail while you still can and worry about your expiration date when it arrives? Kitesurfing as a pretty epic plan B though ??

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segler said..
...My solution has been to eat red beets. Beets are known to increase circulation. I have better luck with fresh beets cooked. Packaged beets, beetroot powder, beet juice, and beet chewables can work, but, in my case, fresh cooked have always been the best. I know my system is full of beetness when my p and p are red tinged.

Beets are just one of many sources of nitric oxide - cruciferous vegetables are excellent sources of it as are other green leafies. Nitric oxide is an important nutrient in the health and healing of endothelial cells (e.g. arteries damaged by cardiovascular disease,, hypertension, etc).

Eat your veggies, people.

www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1998/press-release/
www.webmd.com/diet/healthy-foods-nitric-oxide (or just search for "foods high in nitric oxide"

bit hard to generalize. If your CIDP responds to treatment then it may not cause you any problems at all.
Then it depends what type of CIDP you have i.e. typical CIDP would have significant dyscoordination which isn't very helpful for any activity and typically affects how strong you feel the board below your feet (not the same as feeling pain) which is even worse for surfing and windsurfing.

You have to find out your biggest deficit (or ask your doctor) and modify your technique from there. If you predominatly have issues with feeling the board properly below your feet from a movement point of view a possible fix can be to use the highest volume and most stable board. Or perhaps the smallest volume board and an oversized sail and just spend all day in the footstraps if that is even possible. Or switch to kitesurfing where this doesnt matter as much

There are lots of different nerve fibres which transport different kind of information (pain, awareness of space, stabilisation/gravity stabilisation etc) so it really depends which nerves are actually demyelinating.

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Jasonwave said..
It will be gradual nerve/muscle degeneration. Not bad yet, just starting with loss of sensation - my concern here is doing myself premature damage eg feet in straps. Doctors all seem lacking in experience when throwing a sport like this in the mix, and am told to take a holistic view whatever that means. Kinda torn between throwing in the towel and refusing to stop the sport that keeps me dreaming. So clues to help keep going is where Im at I guess.

Hi Jason, I had problems with the peroneal nerve in my left leg for 18 months. Luckily it suddenly stopped as fast as it started. I went mad researching for a solution, I did electrical conduction test which confirmed the nerve was not functioning correctly. I saw many doctors and a neurologist who advised to give away windsurfing altogether. I tried Chinese acupuncture and osteopath as I was unwilling to accept stopping windsurfing. Like all windsurfers my life Centres on it. Everything changed when I saw a Sports Doctor, he got it and he prescribed me to get back on the water. The Sports Doctor advised windsurfing is good for mental health and that I will have good days and bad days. This was 2.5 years ago. I windsurfed on the LT 970km last year in preparation for the World Championship held in Perth, Western Australia. The worlds were awesome and if I had listened to the neurologist I wouldn't have competed.

regarding footstraps, I have stopped sailing shortboards and sail Windsurfer LT instead (no footstraps). I also suffer from Morton's neuroma in both feet so hard landings on board or the beach bottom really flare the pain. Therefore when I come in I purposely fall to windward rather than jump or step off. I'm also wearing orthotics in my exel booties. I wear booties as I also have diabetes type 2 and don't want to cut my feet.

The best advice I can give you is see a Sports Doctor! Other medical people don't get why we want to keep windsurfing.

I had sudden onset foot neuropathy a few years ago, but I was lucky the pain subsided enough for me to try windsurfing again. My feet felt a bit battered after the first time, but I noticed they seemed to come back better than before...now I find windsurfing one of the best therapies... seems to improve the circulation and improves my feet sensitivity....I find the worst thing to do for the problem is sit around and remain inactive for any period of time.

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Neuropathy vs Neuroma? I'm confused... what's the difference? I have been diagnosed with Neuroma... (numbness in my feet... mainly my middle toes) which is far less serious than the topic at hand: Neuropathy. I looked up the difference between the two and came up with:"Neuroma and Neuropathy are often confused terms. While a Neuroma is a tumor pinched between nerves, Neuropathy is a nerve disorder categorized by damage of the nerves, often caused by elevated blood glucose levels as a result of diabetes."In more detail, Neuroma/Neuropathy can be described as:


"A Neuroma is a benign tumour that forms when nerves are pinched, while Neuropathy is a nerve disorder that occurs when nerves are damaged:

Neuroma

A benign tumor that forms when nerves in the foot are pinched between the metatarsal bones. Symptoms include tingling, numbness, cramping, burning, or a shooting sensation in the toes. Causes include poor foot structure, poorly fitting shoes, or trauma to the feet. Treatments include padding, orthotics, anti-inflammatory medication, cortisone injections, alcohol sclerosing therapy, or surgical excision."

I've been advised by my doctor that my Neuroma has probably been caused by ramming my feet into my windsurfer's footsteps for 35 years. Is it affecting my sailing? Marginally. Will it slowly get worse if I continue to sail? Probably. But at 73 years of age, it's just one of several issues with my body that's naturally, slowly wearing out... thus I live by the mantra: "Use it of Lose it".

I've been advised steroid injections may help, and so can surgery... but I've decided, for now, just to suck it up and get out on the water, because once out there, the endorphins kick in and there's no pain or discomfort... until I get home. But then I take "Vitamin I" (Ibuprofen) and a glass or two of alcohol which, if nothing else, improves my attitude.

I wish all of you out there with Neuropathy all the best with dealing with your uncomfortable issue, and hope you manage to get out on the water.

It's a good idea to be careful, and you list things that should help. But keep in mind that switching to using boots, while a good idea, may not combine well with also using softer foot straps. Soft + soft gets you stuck more often.

If you already have significantly reduced feeling in your feet, be careful about which boots you use. Some boots have points that rub and can take the skin right off. Keep your initial sessions with boots short and check your feet for sore spots you may not feel.

I had a close relative who lived for decades with severe neuropathy in her feet. Plenty of doctors had a hard time believing how severe her symptoms were, until they pricked her feet with needles and got zero reaction. It did not affect her activity levels in any way, except perhaps during periods of intense pain.

I've been living with foot pain for a long time, and think that is has affected by balance, which is rather poor. That has not kept me from learning to windfoil and wing, although my progress may be slower than average. With respect to balance, windsurfing in good conditions is a lot easier - but then, I've done it a few decades longer.