Plantar Fasciitis (Heel Pain)
OUCHY!!!!!
Over 10 years ago, I experienced heel pain on my right foot. I went to a Podiatrist (Dr. Cornfield!!! I kid you not!). He did ultrasound treatments on the foot and made me a set of custom orthotics. They make them by making a mold of your feet with plaster cloth in the form of a slipper. After the "slippers" cure, they pull them off and send them to a lab that makes your custom orthotics.
With the treatments and the orthotics, I got over my pain. Of course I was 10 years younger.
In the Fall of 2015, I began to experience heel pain in the right foot. This time I went to a different Podiatrist and after a lot of appointments (they are like Chiropractors in that they want to see you often), he too recommended that he make me custom orthotics. "Oh they have changed over the years. Yours are old so I think you should get new ones made." Again the "slippers" were made and delivered. This time they were full length. My previous ones were half length. He also kept saying "You should get the shot. That will fix the issue." The shot is Cortisone. I didn't opt for that.
I wore them in my shoes and around January the pain went away.
In August of 2016, I was sent to Portland, Oregon on business for a week. I wasn't expecting to walk the 4 to 8 miles a day that I did while I was there. They told me the people are health conscious and they walk everywhere. The pain returned.
In September I decided to give Dr. Cornfield another try. Boy, did he ever age in 10 years! Same voice; different body! And the price had gone up to $80 per visit and more depending on what he did.
I brought in all my orthotics to show him. I pulled out of my bag the old customs he had made, the new customs the other Podiatrist made and all the other ones I bought at department stores trying anything to get the pain to go away. The green pair (10+ years old), grey pair (1+ years old) and brown pair (January 2017) are the custom orthotics that were made for me by the podiatrist.
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| Custom Orthotics and Heel That Pain inserts |
At some point, I searched Google and found a nice video about how this one fellow solved his heel pain by doing several things including running and wearing barefoot running shoes but he swore that his Arizona Birkenstocks really helped his heel pain. I ordered a pair on line. The first pair didn't fit so I returned them and ordered a different size. They didn't fit so I returned them and
ordered a third pair and this pair fit. The pictures are before break in. They actually fit better now after adjusting the straps. An added side effect of wearing them is that everyone who sees them knows they are Birkenstocks AND they ask where your tie die shirt is. LOL
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| Before proper strap tightening |
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| Before proper strap tightening |
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| After Break In |
After continuous appointments and him telling me to stretch often, he finally said I needed physical therapy. He gave me a prescription and I started PT. At first they see you 3 times a week and then 2 times a week. While there, they have you do a lot of balancing exercises and all kinds of stretching. Most of the time you are on your own and they sort of monitor you. On some visits, they apply a lotion and use a special metal tool to "stretch" your calf muscles and then they use it on the bottom of your foot to stretch your Plantar tendons. You use these rubber bands to stretch out your feet a lot.
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| Physical Therapy Exercise Straps |
After a month with not much improvement, I asked for another month and continued going all the way into December.
I also began to do more research on the web. I found a guy named Brett who was into natural health and made wood products used for Plantar Fasciitis. I ordered his "foot friend" and his "foot massager". Brett is really into high quality wood products as well as eco-friendly shipping. Let me tell you, the shipping price was worth the care he took in packaging up the two items. Just take a look at these pictures.
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| Foot Friend Box Before Opening |
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| Natural Twine used to secure foot friend to the bos |
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| Massage Tool (great for getting into your heel and foot) |
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| Foot Friend and Massage Tool Unboxed |
I should also mention that Brett makes custom orthotics too from scratch but I didn't order them. He also has some other sort of bazaar videos one of which is how to give yourself an enema! Thank you very much but I won't be watching that one!
Another web site that has tons of information on Plantar Fasciitis is heelthatpain.com. They sell these things called Original Heel Seats and they are actually very well made. The research they did to create them is also pretty impressive. they have a guide that they will Email to you telling about their research as well as stretching exercises to do. They are shown in the picture below and are blue.
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| Blue Inserts are from Heel That Pain |
Did I mention that I was accumulating other "tools" that were designed to be rolled under the foot and looked like weapons from the old ages? Well I have lots of them. Some of them include hard rubber balls with little things that stick out all over. I have a thing that looks like a doggy toy that you put in the freezer and then roll it under your foot. I have a Chinese massage tool that you stand on and rock back and forth. It is like standing on a bed of nails. Ouch!!!
About this time, I went back to my Podiatrist and he talked me into getting "the shot". Let me tell you, it isn't the most pleasant experience to get "the shot".
I really though this would do the trick. It didn't.
Did I mention the cost of PT? How about $350 to $560 PER SESSION!!!! Yes, that is correct. It's un-freeking believable how much they charge. Thankfully, they were in network so with my health insurance discount, it cost me $60 per session.
After two months of PT, they shook their heads and told me they thought I had something really wrong and to go back to the doctor. I did.
He said I needed another shot so I relented. It hurt the second time too. And it also did NOT help.
At this time, it was almost Christmas. My Podiatrist told me my custom orthotics were too old and said I needed to get new customs made. Cha Ching! $220 later, I had my new orthotics; half length this time.
No help. Now it is mid-January.
About this time, I told my mother in law about the Podiatrist. She shook her head and told me I needed to go to a real doctor. She recommended her orthopedic surgeon.It was her doctor when she broke her foot the year before.
Foot pain at this point? Pretty bad. I couldn't even walk properly. My left foot wouldn't push off properly and I was in constant pain. It was also affecting my right knee and hip. When you don't walk properly, it affects everything else in your body because you change how you walk.
I made an appointment with the surgeon and he barely looked at it after I explained my history. He told me that there is a new procedure/surgery they are performing that is highly successful. It involves a small slit in the heel and then they "suck out" all the scar tissue. At this point, I basically didn't have a whole lot of options so we scheduled the surgery for February 15, 2017.
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