Friday, June 11, 2010

Whining and Rejoicing

You all may remember in February I visited a podiatrist because I was having a lot of pain in the outside joint of my right foot. It had been going on for 2 – 3 months at the time. He diagnosed it as bursitis and gave me a cortisone shot. I went back two weeks later because my foot was hurting in a new way. Turns out he hit bone with the needle and gave me a bone bruise. Nice …. so in addition to the bursitis I had a bone bruise.

3 months later and my foot is killing me and starting to hurt in different ways too – along the heel and soles. The heel/sole pain scares me and makes me worried it could be plantar fasciitis. A friend gave me the name of a podiatrist in Brookline who was the Patriots podiatrist physician for 15 years, as well as working for Boston Ballet, Saucony, and Nike. Yay! He knows athletes (not that I am really an athlete but I am walking a lot and doing agility, etc) and biomechanics. I saw him on Wednesday.

Dr. S was so thorough! They have something called eco feet which is essentially a large scanner that can hold a lot of weight. They have you step onto it through this black cloth that they zip around your ankles and they scan the soles of your feet so they have a digital image of them. So cool!

He did a gazillion range of motion exercises/movements and examined my feet very thoroughly palpitating for pain/sensitivity. He measured my hip height and had me walk back and forth multiple times at varying speeds.

Ultimately he said my feet are in pretty good shape, but that my right hip is higher than my left hip and I am landing on the inside of my right heel which causes me to spin on the ball of my foot putting pressure on the outside of my foot – causing the bursitis. (He did agree with that diagnosis – just not how the previous doctor treated it. He said that cortisone causes damage to soft tissue and since the location of the bursitis in my foot does not have a significant fat pad or amount of soft tissue to begin with the cortisone shot reduced it even more. Sigh. He said he rarely uses cortisone – only as a last resort.)

He suggested orthotics with heel lifts in the left foot so that my hips are even. They made the orthotics while I waited. They had me walk in my new sneakers (Brooks 7.5 EE! In part to fit the orthotic. I usually wear an 8.5 that was apparently not wide enough for my foot) for about 5 minutes. Then the dr. came and watched me walk in the shoes and measured my hips again.

Until the inflammation goes down they want me to wear my new sneakers most of the time. My feet feel MUCH better. Usually they hurt while I am walking the dogs. Not since I got my new sneaks with orthotics!

7 comments:

Sara said...

I'm glad you got something that is working to help ease your discomfort. Living with chronic pain is the worst.

Taryn said...

Shows what going to different doctors can do for you! Sounds like your 2nd guy was much more experienced. Glad it helped!

Natasha said...

I also don't agree with doctors using cortisone as the solution to problems. Sounds like this doctor is great, though!! Glad you're feeling better!

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

wow, that sounds so high tech, how lucky you found this guy, it sounds like the orthotics might really help, and that is cool you were feeling some relief so quickly.

Blue said...

I'm so glad to hear that you've found some relief!

Nancy and Stewie JRT said...

Hey Jules,

Glad to hear your foot is better, do you go to the chiropractor for yourself? My hips go out also and the chiro helps with that a lot!

Jules said...

Hi Nancy, Yes, I swear by the chiro for me too! I think the hip height difference might be why I have such a hard time holding my pelvis.