(NOT twoprops’ actual feet)
I’ve been having foot pain all my life (my first memory of my feet hurting was around age 3). I have tried many, many things and spent thousands on special shoes. Many of those things help, but none has ever made the pain go away or even diminish to ignorable levels.
In March, my primary care provider referred me to a podiatrist. I finally had an appointment last month. (Specialist referrals are broken.) I didn’t hold out much hope for a miracle cure, but the pain since March has had a different character and was sometimes severe even when I wasn’t walking, so I wanted to rule out badness. I should say that I have done well with podiatrists in the past. One whom I saw when I was in residency (and had to wear shoes anyway) made me some custom orthotics that probably took my everyday pain down from a level 8 (daily!) to maybe a 5. Quite a blessing though still painful.
Others have prescribed a variety of stretches, a special boot that had me in 10/10 pain within minutes, and shoes, shoes, shoes — all of which were pricey and at best minimally effective.
This doc was different. He was able to explain the cause of my pain (it’s notable that we learned almost nothing about feet in medical school and residency; our human dissection literally ended at the ankle). He picked up right away that I had super tight Achilles’ tendons. Indeed I walked on my toes until ten or twelve years ago. He explained the physiology of why the toe-walking led to pain, and why I have never been able to comfortably wear shoes. He recommended some simple stretches that I’d never seen before. He recommended compression (something I’ve just intuitively done whenever the pain was extra bad) and topical pain treatments that I’m still considering.
He did not say “hey, fatso, if you’d lose 50 pounds it would take some load off your poor feet,” no doubt figuring I already knew that. I gained a lot of weight before and around my thyroid cancer and treatment and losing it has been difficult. He didn’t say to wear custom orthotics even though I can’t really wear shoes (except, perhaps, these new ones).
I would have been quite happy just knowing that it was understandable pathology. I think one of the many reasons any of us see the doctor is the fear of eventually hearing something like “It’s really too bad — if we’d known six months earlier maybe we could have saved the foot.” But I got more than that, because the simple stretches so far seem to have reduced the pain down to ignorable levels.
It’s possible that it’s just coincidence. Like most chronic pain, this waxes and wanes. But it has been years since the pain has been this mild and it started getting better the day after my appointment. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I’m impressed and hopeful.
—2p