heal my feet or control my pain

I can Zumba twice a week, teach my classes, and live my life without too much pain.

I credit physical therapy and Toesox.

just because the pain is still there. I have a twofold plan for controlling the pain: taking Excedrin Migraine when I feel the first twinge, and seeing if I can get stools or tall chairs in the rooms I teach in. Last semester, I just had one room with a nice tall chair that I perched on from time to time. I mostly stand when I teach, but it makes a difference to take the pressure off from time to time.

most of the day, I wore the shoes pictured while the Friday Friends were over. My feet felt great all night! I could never, by any stretch of the imagination, have worn them six months ago.

just because I was afraid it was not real. :)

As of 2 weeks or so ago, my feet have been pronounced “good to go” by the physical therapist, whom I saw just THREE TIMES! He said I could gradually move into “real” shoes instead of supportive ones with orthotics inside. He said I could move away from taping my feet, and that my assignment is to get some shoes I want to wear to work, and see how it goes. If my feet hurt after working a couple of days per week in those shoes, I should come back for a tuneup.

I have been wearing flipflops or going barefoot at home, and so far, so good!

i cannot believe that I have suffered for 12+ years, have laid out thousands of dollars for cortisone shots, orthotics, special shoes, electrical stimulation, night splints, and who knows what else; have limited my life to the essentials; have read everything I could get my hands on regarding plantar fasciitis, and this guy has gotten me back to normal in three visits!

Happy feet!

Sequined flip-flops: $8.00
Shiny nail polish: $3.50
Happy feet: Priceless

But I will keep at it. Today, I lasted maybe 2 hours, then taped my feet and put on shoes. I decided to walk down the driveway to get the paper (instead of driving). Once I was there, I decided to walk just to the edge of our property, where our yard joins the next-door neighbor’s yard. Then, I walked to the end of his property, and to the end of the property beyond. Then home and up the driveway. It may not sound like much, but it was the first walking I have done in 12-plus years that was not strictly necessity.

And my feet feel fine. Whew!

Shaking hands with my feet hurts, too, so I have decided to buy some Yoga Toes (pictured above). They separate the toes exactly like shaking hands with one’s feet does. Some people even sleep in them.

I learned to shake hands with my feet. The therapist wants me to go barefoot around the house and says I can begin walking recreationally.

The therapist shows me a plastic skeletal model of a foot (“Former patient,” he says) and shows me how the foot is supposed to flex. He takes his own shoe and sock off and shows me how the heel absorbs the initial shock, the midfoot spreads to further absorb it, and the ball of the foot pushes off with the next step. My foot, he says, probably does not have that midfoot spread to absorb the shock, and it probably pronates. (Right on both counts, once I take my shoes and socks off and we take a look.)

The “itis” part of plantar fasciitis, he tells me, is inflammation, which under normal circumstances arises with injury and fades away in a few days. If it lasts for twelve years, something is out of line in my feet that is keeping the inflammation going.

He manipulates my foot and asks if different pressure points hurt. Then he has me do small knee bends while he presses on the inside of my foot near the ankle.

The talus is the bone highlighted in the picture, a bone on the inner edge of the foot. Apparently that misaligned bad boy is the cause of all my woes.

Unlike other doctors and therapists I have seen, this one recommends no stretching, icing, or orthotics, just two simple exercises I can do two or three times a day to put pressure on my talus bone while my foot is resting, and again while it is bearing weight.

with Nick’s former therapist, who has a reputation as the best and who tells me my feet are fixable. Yay!

from the foot doc when I asked for a referral to a particular physical therapist. I explained that he was my husband’s former therapist, that I trusted him, and that he thought he could help. I told the doc that the therapist at his facility had brought me about 75 percent of the way, but that I’d like to try this therapist and see what he could do.

He said, “What could he do that our therapists could not do?”

I explained that he was a Certified Functional Manual Therapist, which took extra training.

“Well, what does he do that’s any different?”

I explained that it was manual therapy, special techniques the details of thich I was unsure. I explained about Tink’s telling me about Active Release Technique and saying that perhaps it was similar.

“Do you have any scientific studies attesting to the effect of this therapy?

_{Sure, I always carry a portfolio of scientific studies with me when I go to the doctor to request physical therapy.} “No, but I would be more than happy to email you links to the websites.”

Finally, he took the therapist’s business card, which I had brought with me, and went over to the therapy wing.

When he came back, he said, “I am new here, so I did not know this person, but the therapists were all familiar with him, and there was even a patient there who had been to him. I am going to give you a script to go see him.”

I was so thankful that he had not been totally wedded to his skepticism. I took the referral and immediately made an appointment. I go next Friday! Yay!