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What do frozen peas have to do with a painful foot condition called "plantar fasciitis"? It's an amusing story and I thought I'd share my experience here so that others who are experiencing regular foot pain might be inspired to have a medical professional check it out...
For quite a few years now, I've been experiencing a good deal of pain in my feet. When I first wake up in the morning, my feet often hurt so much that it's hard to stand on them. This pain goes away, for the most part, over the course of the day. It comes back if I do a lot of walking or standing on them. Since I suffer from fibromyalgia (which is an illness that causes pain in the muscles and joints pretty much all the time) I just figured the foot pain was probably part of that. The pain in question manifests itself in two places (for the most part. One is in the thick part of the sole of the foot, just below and parallel to the toes. The other is in the heels. This pain comes and goes during the day, being worst in the morning and when getting up after sitting for a while. At my wife's urging, I saw my doctor, who recommended me to a podiatrist after hearing that my father and uncles suffer from plantar fasciitis. He suspected that this was my problem as well. The podiatrist asked a few rapid-fire questions and pretty much confirmed that diagnosis. The first thing he did was wrap some gauze and tape around my foot. The tape went around the area at and just below that big fleshy part that's parallel to the toes, and back behind the heel. It would be kind of like if you cut the toes, calf, and under heel area of a sock off and replaced the sock with tape. (If I wasn't lazier I'd have taken a picture.) I was surprised how much better my foot felt with this tape on it. My heels still hurt, but the rest of my foot was pretty much pain free for the first time in years. I was told to keep this tape in place for about 3 days, which I did. I was also told to buy a pair of Spenco Polysorb Insoles (and only that specific brand and line) for my shoes. The podiatrist said that about 70% of the time this has helped his patients overcome the pain without the need for custom orthotics. There were only a handful of places in the Columbus area that carry this specific brand of insoles, but we found one and I picked up a pair for about $20. That same store, BTW, carried SAS shoes, which are some of the most comfortable I've ever worn. But I mentioned frozen peas earlier. You're wondering why, I expect. That's the last part of the podiatrist's initial recommendation. He said that my foot should be "iced" at the end of the day. He recommended buying a couple of cheap bags of frozen veggies (peas work well because they mold to the shape of the foot more easily than, say, broccoli) and putting my feet on those each night for 20 minutes. I've been doing that. It's now about a week later, and here's what I can tell you. The tape has been removed, and thanks to the insoles and frozen peas, I'm not missing it much. The insoles seem to be doing the job, though I still have pain in my heels. The podiatrist told me that it takes months and years to do damage like this to the foot, so it may take months before I feel a real benefit from the treatment. Fortunately, that hasn't been the case except for the heels. In early June, I'm to go back in and see the podiatrist again and see what happens next. He'll also tell me about the results of the x-rays they took of my foot when I was there. The x-rays will tell him if there is a need for surgery or if there is anything more significant wrong with my feet that should be treated.
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