partner at end of rope for foot issue from stupid mistake

Hi Jessica,

I have had PF for 2 years due to tight calf musces for which I do exercises to stretch them but as your fiance has torn his tendons that is more serious and even more painful. I wear gel heel pads in all my shoes and at a couple of dollers a pair they are worth their wieght in gold as they enable me to walk and work with no pain just a twinge after a long walk. Justy google gel heel pads and they will come up and I get the thick blue ones from China so they take a couple of weeks to come. As to handling the pain I have problems with Naproxen as it upsets my ibs but Indometacin works really well without any tummy troubles and the doctor gave me more tablets in case of tummy trouble so I take one a day in case.

I possible damaged my tendons and knees by going up and down ladders all day at work and often missing the bottom rungs so landing heavily.

I no longer do any running but walking and skiing are fine and swimming has always been OK so I can nowwim much further than before and can enjoy snorkling and scuba diving with no problem none of which I had ever tried before.

Hope this helps as I know how painfull it is but as the saying goes cushion, cushion andcushion a bit more helps living with the problem.

I presume you have had 2nd specilaist opinion from a foot surgeon... if so and reallynothing is to be done, then i would go soft & cushty cushion and more cushion... get Sketchers Go Walk shoes and put even more cushioning in them.  Forget the tough as nails insoles and if the surgeon who recommended them is the guy who said nothing is to be done then i;d ignore him too and find a foot surgeon who specialises in trauma injuries or a plastic surgeon specialising in feet - the latter are the turn to guys when there is bad damage. Plastic surgeons arent just for faces - they are real speciliasts in intricate stuff.  Research the plastic feet surgeons to start with and in meantime go cushty - very padded on feet and if inflammed from walking, ice.  Cushty is way to go.

Prolotherapy represents a less invasive alternative to surgery.  It's a form of treatment that stimulates the repair of injuries.  Specifically, prolotherapy causes fibroblasts to multiply rapidly - fibroblasts are the cells that actually make up the liagments and tendons.  The rapid production of new fibroblasts means that strong, fresh collagen tissue is formed to repair the tendons.

I have foot problems also and may check this out.  Insoles didn't help me at all and I love to walk.  Hope your fiance can possibly go this route.  Also his daily walking doesn't sound right with pain.  The doctor seems way off on this tactic.

Hi, it can often be silly things that are the start of long term injury. Many years ago after a night of quite heavy drinking after work I was late for the last train, sprinted up a long escalator two steps at a time and next morning did my foot ache - think this the cause of the pf episodes that have plagued me for years.

Much agree with what has been said in previous posts. While a mild attack of pf can be eased by walking and will often disappear later in the day, severe pain is telling you something is very wrong, so can't believe that even more walking on a really painful foot is going to help.

Get other opinions and hope your partner soon finds some relief and his employer gets a bit more sympathetic!

Sounds like he's got hard insoles which doesn't make any sense to me.  I am a retired physician and plantar fasciitis patient.  I have had plantar fasciitis for about 4 months, though it seems to have disappeared these past few days.  I have researched extensively on the subject.  I think most of the stuff you read on the internet is a bunch of untested crap.  I don't believe in the foot exercises, the arch supports, the calf exercises, the night boots, etc.  I have read on the internet (from "doctor" experts) that you should have firm arches . . .   and I have read that you should have no arches - "walk barefoot only."  I have read "apply ice," and  I have read "apply heat - ice is harmful."  Noone seems to have any idea about how to cure PF.

Here's what I think.  I feel that plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the attachment of the plantar fascia to the heel bone, AND/OR some minimal tearing of the plantar fascia - just a few fibers - that results, naturally, in inflammation . . .   like a "pulled muscle."  (You may know that a pulled muscle is simply the tearing of a few muscle fibers.)  Inflammation hurts until it heals and resolves.  So what's so difficult about curing P.F.?  Well we walk on it!!!  Let's say we take 5000 steps a day.  Imagine inflammation of your elbow, (i.e. tennis elbow).  Imagine taking your sore "tennis elbow" and wacked it against the wall, 5000 times a day.  Think it would heal quickly?  I don't either.

So my cure for plantar fasciitis is cushion, cushion and cushion.  That's right - cushion the heel.  Here's what I am doing.  First, I have the plantar fasciitis "relief bridge" gel-heel innersole in my shoes - that I got at Walgreen's for about $11.  Then I wear a pair (usually) of nice thickish athletic type sox.  On my heel I've been wearing plantar fasciitis therapy wrap padded supports that I got on the internet for about $13.  But also, I sewed  onto the the padded foot wraps, the back part of some thick arch cushions for a little more cushion.  So under my heels I have 4 cushion layers.  And now, after about 4 months, I think the PF is gone.  That's what I think, and I hope that this helps you and the many other sufferers of plantar fasciitis.

Hi jessica,

  I feel that the love of your life needs a second opinion at a very upstanding hospital where they have doctors who can help him in surgery. They can take out scar tissue and also help with other things in his feet. I think that this would be a better solution since he has hurt his feet by jumping off of something. Sometimes two or three eyes may see something this one eyed doctor has not seen. I don't know where you live but life if you lived in a state like Tennessee where they have Vanderbilt or in Alabama where they have Birmingham would be a solution. Hope this helps.