Thoughts About Running
By Madeleine Cummings Out of My Hands
’ve always had frozen fingers.
For years, I thought this was common – an inevitable realit y for any Canadian not living in Vancouver.
My fingers are often numb. On one occasion, after a winter run, it took 10 minutes of clapping my hands together before my fingers were able to turn the key in the lock to my house.
In addition to numbness and pain, each of my fingers turns an icy white. The dramatic discolouration lingers, long after I’m out of the cold. My toes can be affected too, making running fairly uncomfortable on cold days.
Not long ago, I discovered this nuisance has a name: Raynaud’s phenomenon. It’s a condition that disrupts the f low of blood, especially to the hands. Spasms, triggered by the exposure to cold or stress, occur in
Ithe blood vessels and cause coldness and changes in colour. It’s named after the French doctor Maurice Raynaud, who discovered it in the 1800s. Scientists still don’t completely understand its causes.
The kind of Raynaud’s I have is primary, which means it happens on its own, without an associated disease or medical condition. It can also occur alongside diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
Raynaud’s is surprisingly common, likely affecting more than a million Canadians. It’s also more common among women, people who live in cold climates and people who have less body weight and fat.
Over the past year, I’ve heard stories from a surprising number of runners who have this condition. All of us, naturally, are seeking ways to mitigate it. Though there are medications available, they can lower blood pressure, and since regular runners tend to already have lower blood pressure, these meds can lead to light-headedness and fainting.
I asked Rachel Boehm, a runner who’s been vocal about Raynaud’s, for tips on how she came to alleviate some of her symptoms. First, she tried sticking her hands in hot water, but that actually increased the pain. She tried to ignore the attacks, but they increased, even occurring indoors. Her fingers froze in the frozen food section of the supermarket, and at work, due to the AC. After taking meticulous notes on her runs, clothing and weather conditions, she concluded that overdressing was actually exacerbating her Raynaud’s attacks. It led her to sweat more, and blowing on her hands was having a similar effect: adding moisture and making attacks worse.
According to Janet Pope, a professor of medicine and the head of rheumatology at St. Joseph’s Health Care in London, Ont., exercise can have mixed effects on Raynaud’s. Mild exercise may increase blood f low to an area of the body, but in runners, blood f low can change and send more to the large muscles in the legs, away from the extremities.
Damp shoes, she explained, can make things worse, which explains why Rachel was struggling with overdressing and why my toes lost all feeling during a cross-country race on a mild but snowy day in October.
If attacks happen after a run, Pope recommends putting the fingers in warm but not hot water. Changing into dry clothing, but keeping on mittens and a hat, also helps some people, she said.
Boehm didn’t like the idea of letting her body keep her from running outside and avoiding long races. So when she signed up for her first ultramarathon, the jfk 50-Miler, she decided to dedicate the race to Raynaud’s awareness and raise money for the Raynaud’s Association, a non-prof it that supports people who have the disorder.
Choosing that race, a difficult trail run in November, was “not the smartest idea,” she said. But she finished it, thanks to smart layering, eating properly and being very prepared. Madeleine Cummings is an Edmonton-based journalist. Read her column each issue for Canadian Running.