Severe Plantar Fasciitis and Foot Surgery at Age 21

by Melissa
(Australia)

I used to be a happy, outgoing and athletic person. I walked 5km's most days for fitness, loved boxing, playing with the kids and was just always on the go from the second I woke up to when I went to bed.


I first developed plantar fasciitis in my right foot in 2001 at the age of 21. At first it was just a niggling pain that went away after a few hours rest.

I didn't really think too much about it at the time because I was only 21 and my job in the Navy meant standing for very long periods of time on hard surfaces.

Eventually the pain became very severe and harder to manage. No amount of ice, rest or pain relief made an ounce of difference.

I kept bringing it up with every doctor I saw and was basically told it was in my head. (Probably because they couldn't work out what the problem was) By this stage it had invaded every aspect of my life.

I stopped socialising with friends and family because of the pain, even simple household tasks like peeling the vegetables for dinner meant I had to have a stool in the kitchen to sit on, I stopped playing with my neices and nephews and basically became a prisoner in my own home.

Everything revolved around trying to reduce the pain to a tolerable level in preparation for work the next day and my sleeping pattern went out the window.

Not only did I have a constant hot burning feeling constantly but that was complimented by sudden and excrutiating sharp stabbing pains that went from my heel straight up my leg and made them ache constantly.

Christmas 2005 saw me see a doctor outside my normal chain of command for a prescription refill and he noticed me limping and started asking me questions. I described my symptoms and the severity, how it had started affecting every aspect of my life and he marched me right around the corner for a foot x-ray. Finally a diagnosis.

This was followed up with several MRI's, 4 cortisone injections, daily strapping, physiotherapy, massage, orthodics, intralesional autologous blood injections (twice a week for twelve weeks), ultrasonic shockwave therapy, a night splint and now two surgeries.

A plantar fascia release and more recently a steindler release.

To add insult to injury I now have the same condition in my left foot and am looking at being medically discharged from the navy as a result of the condition.

Mine is a particularly severe case, so my recommendation is to try conservative treatments first. Surgery should only be a last resort.

I found a night splint provided me with the best and longest relief and if your specialist hasn't suggested one to you, you suggest it to them or just buy one online. I use it religiously and not just at night.

I eventually agreed to surgery because I had no other options left and I had finally reached the point when I couldn't weight bear on my heel at all and this was causing new problems with my knee's aswell as severe pain in my ankles, the ball of my foot and the way had been walking (on the front outside of my foot) had caused nerve damage.

I had the plantar fascia release in Nov 2008 and that seemed to make everything worse, the surgery was quick and I didn't have much post op pain by getting off the crutches took almost 3 months.

Most people are off them in a week or two. I then ended up in a cast for 3 months trying to stretch everything out.

My surgeon was great and was very up front about possible complications and the probability of becoming pain free. About 12 months after the first surgery he was attending a medical conference and came across another orthopaedic surgeon who specialises in plantar fasciitis.

They got to chatting about my situation and in the end I was referred on to him. He immediately scheduled me for a steindler release but he also was very honest about the prognosis.

He estimated there
was about a 70% chance of some kind of improvement but was clear I would never be pain free. I had the steindler release in Feb 2010. The recovery time is a lot longer and the post op pain is pretty intense for the first week or so but for the first time in nearly 2 years I can put weight on my heel.(About 50% of my full weight)I have definately had an improvement but because it took so long to get to this point I have caused a lot of other damage to my foot as a result of severe plantar fasciitis.

I had the steindler release in Feb 2010 and it has definately had some improvement but think I have taken it as far as I can. Now I need to concentrate on my right foot and try to stop it progressing to a point where it too is unmanageable.

I suffer from paraesthesia of the arch, ball of my foot and toes (pain, pins and needles, burning sensation)that never goes away and standing for more then 2 to 3 minutes at a time is extremely painful. I get a lot of pain in my knees, calves and achilles tendon and as a result I have all my groceries delivered, avoid anything where I have to stand or walk, only wear runners, and drive everywhere.

I live like an 80 year old women rather then a 30 year old and some days I just want to cry for the fun life I used to have but I don't. Like I said, mine has been a particularly nasty case. For most people, their feet respond well to conservative treatments so surgery doesn't become an option for them.

If you are one of the unlucky ones like me and your specialist suggests surgery, don't dismiss it outright. I'm glad I didn't. If I had declined surgery I would probably be using elbox crutches full time by now.

I will eventually need to but I've managed to put it off for a few years yet so for that I am grateful. Ask lots of questions, do your own research and don't be afraid to go home and write out a list of questions and concerns for your surgeon to address at your next appointment.

You need to sit down with a clear head and really think about your options. I have heard of a lot of people who have had horror experiences with surgery and heaps who think it was the best thing they ever did. Everyone reacts differently and will have a different outcome to the person before them.

I hope I have provided some useful information for anyone who suffers from this sometimes crippling condition. Keep your chins up and think positive. Don't let it get you down!



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Joshua Comments:


Wow. Well said Melissa.

If we had met before your surgeries, I would have added this in.

1. Magnesium For Tendonitis

2. Take a look at nutrition and possible deficiency thereof, as far as the muscles not being able to work very well, withstand time spend on the feet, and connective tissue being strong.


3. Working on the Achilles and lower leg structures to see how they were affecting the foot.

Most foot issues comes from the lower leg, not the foot itself.


Sometimes Tendonitis can be simple, sometimes it can be extremely complicated and TOUGH to find a way to escape it.

It depends on your specific scenario. Having said that, there are specific, predictable factors that must be dealt with if one wants results.


See: What Is Tendonitis?





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The Tendonitis Expert
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Comments for Severe Plantar Fasciitis and Foot Surgery at Age 21

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Jun 10, 2015
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		I commented earlier
by: Anonymous

It turns out that my plantar fasciitis ... well is not plantar fasciitis.

It is a long story, all at asaintcalledalnnight.blogsdpot.com but I managed to trick and manipulate GP's and Hospitals after I correctly diagnosed myself and was then correctly diagnosed by Guy's Hospital, who later tried to lie but I had recorded the appointment, that my foot pain is connected to all my other areas of pain...

Fibromyalgia.

I got an email from this page and then looked and thought it may be helpful to others?

A book called Figuring Out Fibromyalgia was the only one that stated that Fibromyalgia Syndrome can cause Plantar fasciitis symptoms along with all my other things they stated for twenty years could not possibly be connected to each other.

I hope this helps others. ;)


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Anonymous.

Yep. Pain can come from a lot of different directions.

Unfortunately, hospital medicine/doctors primarily are stuck in an unimaginative and incomplete understanding of how the body works, and (for some crazy reason) think that if a foot hurts, it MUST be a problem with the foot.

Which more often than not, isn't.

'True' plantar fasciitis, for instance, is generally caused by issue in the lower leg, and all the 'plantar fasciitis' develops as a symptom and byproduct of that.

Fibromyalgia symptoms develop from some pretty predictable factors, and foot pain is just one of many many possible symptoms.
Jun 10, 2015
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Plantar Fasciitis surgery was my only option, I am hopeful that it works.
by: Stephene

I am 22 years old and in college. I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis about 3 1/2 years ago. My mom was diagnosed with it first and refereed me to her doctor.

He was terrible and his only suggestion was shots and after 6 times of that (every 2 weeks) it was time for surgery. Needless to say after my second time with the shot and never having more than 10 minutes of relief, we sought out another doctor.

This doctor is great. He does custom insoles, cortisol shots (but only every few months because the body needs time to heal afterwards), and surgery is the absolute last resort ever for patients.

I was never getting relief and the shots did nothing after 4 shots over a 2 year period with this doctor, getting custom insoles, and changing my medication 3 times we decided surgery was my only option.

The only relief I received before surgery was chiropractic help from my chiropractor that has been seeing me for 6 or 7 years. That only lasted a few days and the pain would be back with no mercy.

I have slept with ice packs and elevated feet for the last 2 years. I would sit in our hot tub until my feet would be numb. Try to massage my feet for hours at a time and the pain would never subside for more than an hour.

This last year starting on my third college degree, at a much larger institution, and walking between 4 to 6 miles a day the pain got so severe I could not easily walk.

I had to lower my bed so I could even get in and out of bed, I had to crawl around my room to get around. To be able to walk it took about 15 minutes of massaging each foot and then easing onto the floor it took me around an hour to get up and be able to walk just to start my day.

Once I was up I was as good as one could be with pain, but if I sat for even a few minutes it took 15 to try and get up again. At my last doctors appointment my doctor asked me on a scale of 1 to 10 what was my pain level, I had no answer on that scale and was probably around a 12+, but if I were a wild animal I probably would have chewed my foot off instead of deal with my pain. I needed assistance to get up and had to have help to take my first few steps after sitting in class or doing homework.

My plantar fasciitis caused back pain, lower leg pain, ankle pain, foot pain, and so much more.

This truly was my only option. Since I am 22 and the pain was almost crippling I had no other choice. The surgery was on my left foot. When I was younger I had a lot of trauma to this foot which probably didn't help. In 2nd grade I stepped on a broken pot that sliced through my heal near the base of foot (near the middle of my calcaneous), in 4th grade I sprained my ankle in a car wreck, and in 9th grade I tore a ligament in my left (outer) ankle. All that trauma probably didn't help the left foot. My doctor has been aware of the problems that the left foot has encountered in its 22 years.

After my surgery every thing has been going well. My doctor said that he cut 2/3 of the fascia and filed down the bone spur that was present. He told me the fascia was very thick and inflamed and could actually hear and feel the fascia release as he cut it. He said that when it grows back it should grow in an elongated state. I am to wear my insoles that were made for my feet and wear supportive shoes like my ASICS again along with taking my anti-inflammatory medicine after my stitches come out next week.

My after care plan from what he told me is to keep it elevated and keep ice on it, dry, and clean. I have a tens unit to use in 30 minute cycles.

I will have my stitches removed on Friday June 5,2015. My doctor told me I need to be walking and doing light activity. My mother has taken this as doing house work and had me mopping, vacuuming, and cleaning but that is ok.

The only thing I am concerned about is pain has started again in the last few days. The pain is different but still pain. Before it felt like someone was hitting my calcaneous with a sledge hammer as hard as they could, after surgery the pain is more of a throbbing, soar pain in the sole of my foot.

There is also some stiffness in the top of my foot in the metatarsal bones as I begin walking or when stretching my foot. I am wearing my walking boot and was told to resume normal walking stature this week instead of walking on the ball of my foot like last week.

The only other pain is when I have (a few times) stepped and placed the weight on my calcaneous, that was very painful like a knife went through my foot but I believe that is because my foot is still healing from surgery.

I just want to know if it is normal to have the stiffness and throbbing, sore feeling in the foot after surgery. I had the surgery a week and 2 days ago and this pain is more tolerable then before but still not pleasant.

Please let me know what your experiences are and if you had similar healing situations. I was told it typically takes around 6 to 8 weeks to be "pain free" from what my doctor's other patients have told him through out the years.

My doctor said he has around a 2% (about 5-10 patients) rate of patients that came back with problems. He has been practicing for around 20+ years and is very good at his job.

I am optimistic about the surgery and hope that the problem is no longer present in a few weeks.


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Stephene.

I'm optimistic too. I hope it works out.

Yes, you should expect to be in pain the first several weeks, minimal.

Surgery causes injury. A big sheet of connective tissue was cut in half.

You had a Bone Spur removed. Which means, they took a power tool and ground down the bone structure down (possibly used a cutting tool, depending).

OUCH! That's going to hurt for a while.

The resulting Bone Bruise is going to hurt.

And, all (well, the majority of, anyway) the existing factors that were going into your pain dynamic are still present.

You had a Process of Inflammation before, and it's big time amped up from the damage the surgery caused.



So to answer your question, yes it is normal. Surgery causes significant injury, so one should expect that to cause pain etc.

Plus now a major supportive structure in your foot has been severed. Hopefully that will end up being a good thing in your situation.
Aug 23, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		NUTRITION
by: Anonymous

I would concur on the subject of nutrition.

It must be a factor, even if only in the fact that the abuse of these areas can only be sped up by this fact.

Oddly when I was asked to stretch my feet i thought... well I cycle alot, as many PF people end up doing, surely when I cycle my PF is being stretched?

Just a thought.


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Joshua Comments:

Well it is being stretched, sort of.

But of course there's much more to the story.
Aug 22, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Joshua Replies to Y: Severe Plantar Fasciitis and Foot Surgery at Age 21
by: Yvonnrdmyth



Tendons are just pieces of cable. They themselves don't get tight or loose. They're either pulled on a lot, or not.

I don't have a good feeling about the thought of you getting surgery. A. It causes injury B. while some of the tension may be removed, the factors causing the pain in the first place will still be in place. Maybe it would work out awesomely, who knows. C. Also, nutrition. See: #3.


3. I suspect that nutrition plays a huge role. The body can't operate optimally without adequate nutrition. For instance, it's almost CERTAIN that you are Vitamin D insufficient/deficient. Go get your Vitamin D level checked, ASAP.

If you've been low on Vitamin D and, say Magnesium all your life, that very much explains poor muscle function.

See: Magnesium For Tendonitis


Now...throw in the back pain, that adds to the conversation. Nutrition still applies. Maybe there's some lifetime spine out of alignment that's causing this. Though more likely it's tightness causing the poor alignment that causes more tightness....

So, first things first. Make sure your nutrition is adequate so your body can operate properly. Then see how life is, and then look for structural causes.

Get your Vit D level checked. Let me know the results. Read the Magnesium page.
Aug 19, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		uk sufferer at 28
by: yvonnrdmyth

joshua - as per ur reply to my query, why stretch the achillies if the muscles are tight, what did you mean?

plantar fascia isnt a muscle?

besides now that ive had time to think about this condition, about 3 years ago i had terrible back pain that went down the side of my legs, i attended a physio at hospital a couple of times, who said i walk with a slight inward roll on my feet and have a tight achillies tendon.

and remembering when i was a child at school, sitting in groups on the floor in class, i remember having sore legs at the back after just a few minutes when no one else seemed to have a problem, and now even, something as simple as making an 'L' shape with my foot and leg, it was always hurted the back of my leg, like a burning from back of my foot to behind my knee.

im a believer that the tendon being too short/tight from birth prob is my problem and many years of being on my feet/walking has brought this problem on in my 20's.

im not saying im going to jump in and have an operation as im in the uk, docs will prob try everything else and even prob invent new stuff before commiting to an op, but my new worry is if i will ever be able to go back to work?

ive recently been considering the possibility that i may need to claim the government for employment and support allowance and disability living allowance, however, trying to explain to someone that even though it is possible for me to work a job when you sit down is not the problem, the instant i try to stand up ie- tea break is a struggle. even just getting to and from work, the walk to the bus stop, getting on and off the bus, then walking home.

i dread the pain of that.

just thinking about it makes me want to cry. im in my 20's and i cant just go out to a club and get drunk with my friends and hit the dance floor, cos id need to limp to get there and have to lean on someone pretending to have a good time.

anyone else feel like this and facing the same possability of prob not returning to work? im off just now for 1 month - half way through that just now. crutchies and new meds have helped ease it, but i have one good day then 3 bads days then one good day etc. so frustrating. i wish there was like a uk support group that i could go to and moan in person, although prob take me about 3 hours to get there LOL :)


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Y.

1. Plantar Fascia is not muscle. It's connective tissue webbing.

2. Your PT told you your achilles tendons are tight. What he didn't say is that they're tight because the muscle structures connected to them are PULLING them tight.






Aug 18, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PF Ledderhose
by: Anonymous

Hi back again.

Well it is one complicated things these foot ailments.

Yes I am beginning to get my head round it somewhat now. My earlier mentioning of Ledderhose Disease/Dupytren's seems to be growing in stature now.

I am embroiled in some very serious issues, bizarrely far more serious than my health, so difficult at times to keep on track of my endeavours in everything.

I have spoken to another foot guy too at the British Dupryten's Society and he seems to think this too. There wwas one thing that I doubted i that my toes do not claw, but turns out they rarely do that, mine are the opposite and seem to point upwards?!

Also of interest is I have read that they often both occur Dupryten's is same condition as Ledderhose but in the hands...

Oddly and for many years my little finger on my right hand curls inwards towards my palm slightly. If I place my hands together and bend all my fingers backwards all fingers curl back except the little finger that refuses to even straighten. I do get aches and sharp pains with it holding things, or attempting to play tennis! LOL.

I have had this many, many years and assuned I had damaged this myself somehow, never occured to me it could be linked to what is going on elsewhere.

Also I have developed CORNS ib both feet in exactly the same place on side of toe next to little toe on the outside. One in right foot has now been stinging sharly for few months now one one on left is not painful, always the right side of my body is affected or affected first.

Also if I mentioned the NHS and the shenanigans going on, well they and the DWP tried to blame my GP, not very nice. I showed her the letter and she was angry and stated that they were lying.

I then gave her some X-RAYS of my back I had done privately and when I went back to speak to her for her opinion the shocked staff told me she had announced quitting and closure of the practice and had disappeared with my X-RAYS?! NHS MRI 3 years ago I was first told there was a problem but 24 hours later stated there was not?! X-RAYS showed TWO problems.

So you see here in the UK I have had this kind of goings on for years and hence why I trawl the internet. Unless I can find out what is going on my gvernment saves money by refusing to help me, and others. 27th August 2012 at the Olympic Park there is a Protest March about it.

Also for anyone who may find it of interest I have a BLOG. On it it contains scanned documents of the things I have been involved with, photos of feet and where I have injured myself and many other things.

Also there are details of the DLA Help Group and the march.

I do not know if there are any Brits on here and will not just POST the address but if anyone is interested and provided I am allowed to do so I will provide it on here.
Aug 17, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		i also have plantar fasciitis in both feet at age 28
by: yvonne smyth

Hi there, i feel ur pain. Ive prob had this pain in my heels creeping up for like 2 years now. My job means im on my feet 8 hours a day on a concrete floor. I recently cut my hours and got a second job in a call centre which didnt help either. I may be sitting for most of the day but a 15 min tea break just about covers me walking to the toilet.

Plus getting to and from work is a nightmare, public transport, walking to bus stops. Even getting out of my bed at 3am for a pee cripples me. Im currently off both jobs sick. Been waiting 5 months to see a specialist on nhs. My gp says i just need to wait and they plan to do injections. Im crutchies and because i have it in both feet im facing the prospect of being disabled for the foreseeable future.

Is it worth getting the injections cos i believe the underlying cause is my achilles is far too tight and that is pulling on the plantar faschia.

I've been thinking that maybe an op to stretch my achilles tendon.


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Joshua Comments:

Why stretch the Achillles Tendon if it's the muscles that are tight?
May 22, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Help and complications..
by: Anonymous

Joshua it is not my arches so much, other than what I can only describe as bolts of electricity that hurt like hell then subside, it is the heels and the knock on effects to the knee and back.

Walking is bad enough and I am never without a limp these days and have not been without one for several years. 100mg Tramadol and 1000mg Paracetemol daily. Although this is the limit my GP will allow I often go over it by NOT taking pills twice every day and often if I force myself to stay in I do not take them in the evening.

By doing this every now and then I have allowed myself to have quite a number of pills in reserve so that on days that it is bad and I have no choice but to get out and do things I can take 150mg and 1500mg of Paracetmol respectively. Though it is still excrutiating.

The well known and recorded facts that I am also an Imnsoniac, suffer from an Anxiety Disorder, Hotaus Hernia and Oesophagitis Grade C seem to mean nothing to anyone here in the UK. SO I get severe heartburn, vomiting without warning and boredom leads to anxiety all of which compounded if I go without sleep.

I also had an inguinal hernia op that did NOT cause pain before hand but now often aches and at times I get stinging while out.

So it is a balance between staying in, lack of exercise leads to insomnia and also the anxiety also builds from day one. Then considering going out, which casues pains in several areas that only become progressively worse.

After a number of years of this with it becoming more painful with each year I have kind of become tired.

Although technically everything should be sorted out in the next couple of months I have NO CONFIDENCE in the UK and the way it is run and how they are now treating people who are disability sufferers. Looking around the internet it seems I am not the only one either, though I have probably been affected by it longer than most.
May 22, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		NHS Podiatry
by: Anonymous

Thanks Joshua

Well that statement by the Poditrist was after them giving me sets of exercises to do and was in asnwer to the question 'I have done all these before and there has been no results, what if I do these for a year and there is no difference?'

But you are quite correct he did not finish the sentence as he failed to mention either Dupruyten's of Ledderhose's?!

This has become par for the course in the UK. In fact I can tell you that the first Podiatrist I DID see, after being affected over 6 years and much nagging, was a trainee from New Zealand called Eunace. I told her she was mad to be in th UK instead of NZ and she said that she was here for 5 years and that it was nearly over and she was going home in a few months. Seeing an oppurtunity I asked her two questions...

What do you think of the UK and what do you think of the NHS now that you have been here awhile?

Her answer was that 'as far as the UK (we were in a London suburb) is concerened she could not wait to go home and that with the NHS everyone around the world in different helth departments think of the NHS as being this wonderful, do-all, organisation that is pioneering, cutting edge and a great help to suffering people. But I now realise that it is not all that it is cracked up to be and many people will get a shock when I return home.'

I cannot blame her at all for anything end even the fact that she missed the high arches that this February 2012 took an Orthopaedic Surgeon a 30 second look to spot. All these years I was angry and frustrated that they were avoiding the cost of a £500 MRI when al it took was a 30 second look by an experienced eye?! LMAO.

So I have no faith whatsoever in the NHS here in the UK and not a great deal of people do. In fact I have many a health professional openly admit to the state of things, not just poor Eunace.

So you see that is why I am looking further afield and even the social care in the UK is deplorable and I am being lied to by the DIsability people as they do not want to pay me, which the backdated money could PAY for a trip to the USA and all necessary exact diagnosis, MRI's and the best surgeon there is and then some! lol.

I used to tell people, none of which believed me for 12 years (friends AND family) that I would be in a wheelchair by around my mid to late 50's. I am now 43 and believe I only have several years left and it is already excrutuating as i get no help whatsoever, not even travel, to perform everyday chores.

In fact if it was known just how much I have had to do and why it was cause a storm, well I say that but there are a list of organisations and media that do know and that storm might just kick off around late August to late September 2012.

Just have to wait and see.
May 21, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Dupryten's or Ledderhose in the foot
by: Anonymous

Oh I almost forgot.

There was something stated by the Podiatrist along the lines of 'your plantar fascia will continue to contract and will gradually get more and more painful until you cannot walk any more'.

I was then discharged as the NHS Podiatry do not treat anyone between the ages of 16 and 65.

One PRIVATE Podiatrist said that this sounded like Dupuryten's Contracture but looking that up only mentioned the hands. However I have since discovered that the condition exists in the foot and is known as Ledderhose's.

Also if I was to undergo any surgery I would also make sure that that any surgeon that performed it would completely ascertain the root of the problem. It would be fool-hardy to not follow that course of action.

Also I should be meeting with a Pain Management Specialist in a couple of months so hopefully something will come of that?


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Joshua Comments:

Your doctor said "Your plantar fascia will continue to contract and will gradually get more and more painful until you cannot walk any more...".

Unfortunately, that podiatrist didn't finish the sentence. It should finish with "...unless you do something to effectively stop the progression, the progression which is happening for some reason that I the doctor/podiatrist obviously have no idea nor understanding of."

The fact is, no matter the diagnosis, foot pain shows up for a variety of reasons, and unless those reasons get dealt with, pain is unlikely to go away.


I very much hope that something comes out of the Pain management. And I hope that any surgeon you see CAN firmly establish the root of the pain.

And I definitely agree with you re: the state of affairs in the medical/health care world 16-65?? What's that all about??
May 21, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Foot Pain and Surgery
by: Anonymous

Foot pain is not the cause of foot pain?

I think you might want to re-investigate that statement.

Well I cannot continue much longer living with this pain and get about. I also cannot abide the thought of living my life in a wheelchair.

My foot pain IS down to one thing, Pes Cavus/High Arches which causes Plantar fasciitis, metatarsalgia and achilles tendinitis. It also causes pain in my knee, hip and back so if I'm not a candidate for surgery then I do not know who is?!

Now in the UK the Disability Living Allowance, ordered no doubt by the government, is treating disabled people here extremely badly and using underhand tactics to take cash away from people already bound to wheelchairs! No housing either and though I have plans to publish books I have written there is no guarantee on this and the very immediate future is extremely scary.

Considering their are countless organisations that do not do anything in the UK to justify their existence, every Ombdudsman organisation included in that list, it makes what the UK goverment and the DWP doing to sufferers all the more inhuman.

Hence all the more reason for me to want surgery, despite the risks.


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Anonymous.

Thanks, but I'm pretty well established on the 'foot pain does is not the cause of foot pain' concept.

Your arches hurt, so doctors want to do surgery on, for instance, your arches. But something is CAUSING your arches to hurt, and it's not your hurting arches.

Doctors/surgeons go after symtoms. Another way of saying what I said is that 'symptoms are not the cause of your symptoms'.

If you want to do surgery, that's certainly your perogative. My question is always "What exactly are they going to do surgery on and how is that going to fix the CAUSE of the problem.

High arches don't cause Plantar Fasciitis. Lots of people have high and even extremely high arches and they don't have any foot pain nor problem.

So there are other factors at play.

And there's no guarantee that surgery will leave you any better off.

What if your foot pain is due to long term nutritional insufficiency/deficiency? No surgery in the world will fix that.
May 17, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Want Foot Surgery in the UK
by: Anonymous

As I said the UK does NOT entertain ANY surgical procedures, I will not repeat what the Podiatrsit said about the surgeries it was quite deflamatory.

However I am interested, should the Disability here in the UK stop mugging their disabled people for money so they can pay bankersand actually pay me 3 months after applyting and them telling bare-faced lies for the whole time, in what surgeries are done where and who would be higky recommended?

If I was ever in a position to fly somewhere and have the surgery I would not, and have not for over 6 years now, give it a second thought. This is regardless of what UK Doctors state about this, they quite obviously do not hve the first clue of what it it is like to suffer from these ailments a long time, lol.

If I was hit by a truck tomorrow it may hurt momentarily but the rest of the pain would go with it! lol


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Joshua Comments:

I'm not a good guy to ask about surgeries, as I don't recommend them unless you have a tendon ruptured or some such.

As a very general statement, you have pain because muscles and connective tissue are too tight (plus inflammation and nutritional issues), and surgery on a single spot isn't going to fix anything, and may very well make things worse.

Plus, you foot pain probably isn't being caused in your foot.

What exactly would a surgeon do to your foot that would help/fix things, I wonder?

What exactly is the CAUSE of your pain?

Foot pain is not the cause of foot pain.
May 15, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		we need to speak?!
by: Anonymous

Well that was amazing it was almost like I had written it?!

I am in the UK and have long been searching for someone similar to what I have...

My life has suffered beyond anything imaginable with family and friends. Mine affects both feet and fire many years, though only found out recently, it is the cause of my knee, hip and back pain!

Turns out as well as the PF, which is constant and all day, I have metatarsalgia, achilles tendinitus and pes cavus, our high arches. Only took them 12 years and some threatening words?!

Trouble is in the UK is that there is NO operation at all and NHS podiatry will not see you if you are between the ages of 16 and 65, so shockingly your working years, lol.

I've had 4 physios, 2 rheumatologists, 3 orthopaedic surgeons, 2 podiatrists a dozen GPs, corticosteroid injections, foam inserts, hard orthotics, gel inserts, ultrasound Shockwave therapy and now a night splint and custom orthoses, vasyli's.

There is also no help in UK from anyone else either whether its social our financial and the podiatrist told me what I had suspected for a few years, that it will become more painful as my plantar fascia continue to shorten until I just won't be able to walk any more. I have long since lost use of a car too, lol.

It had been a miserable 12 years and the next 5 are going to get progressively worse. Absolutely shocking here in UK how clueless they have been and I have been accused if making it up, referred to as my 'funnyisms', psychosematic among others.

Feeling of vindication was great but I am still between a rock and a hard place.

Also using ice and foot massage with rolling pin..again.

Now I simply must bookmark this page.
Jul 09, 2010
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		I feel your pain!! - Severe Plantar Fasciitis and Foot Surgery at Age 21
by: Donte Bailey

I understand what you are going though..I'm going through the same thing and I'm only 24 years old...I had a subtalar implant put in last year in my left foot but haven't had the nerve to get the right one done..It is very difficult for me too walk some days and its very depressing..I have 3 children and a lot of times I don't want to go anywhere because it is so painful to walk...My knees feel like they have so much pressure on them that it has made me legally handicap..so I do understand..I want help badly but I live in an area where doctors are very slack and I am constantly in pain.
May 25, 2010
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		headed down the same road
by: amberley

I'm afraid I'm headed down the same road i had surgery on my left foot in dec and on may 7 i had surgery on my right, working at circle k for 16 yrs on hard floors will do that to u I'm to the point where I'm applying for disability cause i can barely walk to my car without my walker the pain is piercing even when i step out of bed i have the night splints but they make my feet go numb and tingle.

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