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You know the bony knob on the top of the bridge of your foot? It's barely noticeable on most people, but one of mine became enlarged and painful after some hard windsurfing a few weeks ago. It stopped hurting after a couple days off the water but remained creepily enlarged. It felt icky when I put it back in the strap, and worried me enough that I decided to consult the experts- my coworkers, facebook friends, and the iwindsurf.com discussion forum.
There were multiple theories. For a while the leading one was that it was a bone growth analogous to the "surf knots" that surfers sometimes get on their knees or hip bones, depending on how they paddle. The prospect of a permanent or semi-permanent bone deformity worried me. But then someone on the iwindsurf.com forum identified it as a "Ganglion Cyst", which is some kind of fluid-filled irritation of the tendons and connective tissue around a joint that may be initiated by stress to that area.
After some poking at the bump and comparing it to the gross pictures on wikipedia, I think Ganglion Cyst is most likely what it is, although it could be some combination of ganglion cyst and surfer knot. The particular footstraps that aggravated it were the rather stiff and thin straps on a 2005 Starboard Evo 83. I moved those straps to a board I rarely sail and put some cushier straps on the Evo. We'll see if that's enough to let the cyst heal. If not I'll look for a doc in Fort Pierce on my insurance plan who can drain the thing. Woo hoo!
Pictures: The offending footstraps and the offended foot (on the right). Can you see the bump?
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