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Champion High Jumper Credits CA Podiatrist For Her Return to Competition

High Jumper Sharon said there isn't a day she takes her ability for granted. After what she endured to reach her third outdoors finals after claiming the national outdoor crown in 2005 with a personal-best 6-4, it makes sense. Sharon broke her left foot in December of that same year. While walking through her San Luis Obispo neighborhood, Sharon said she tripped over a curb, not knowing she fractured her fifth metatarsal.

Sharon Day

Devastated is how Sharon said she felt about missing an entire year of not only jumping but playing soccer. The injured foot was her plant foot. She said the first surgery, taking place a week after her injury, didn't improve things. She couldn't even take off before trying to fling herself above the bar using the head-first Fosbury Flop. To her the only flop was her first surgery. A second surgery was needed.

Dr. Amol Saxena

The surgery took place in May. Sharon just wanted to jump again, even if meant struggling to clear the routine jumps of 5-6 and 5-8. She can thank Amol Saxena, a highly-regarded podiatrist in Palo Alto, CA for allowing her the opportunity. "I was just hoping this second doctor could help me," said Sharon of Saxena, who works for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation's Sports Medicine Department and serves as a member of the U.S. Track and Field Sports Medicine medical staff. "He just had more experience and really worked hard to get the pin in there correctly and help my foot heal. "He gave me the normal timeline, up to six weeks. This time I believed the doctor when it happened."

Source: David Carrillo Peñaloza, Daily Pilot [6/5/07]

Amol at 2007 World Duathlon Championship

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