Hey there!
Foot pain sucks! I wore prescription orthotics for 21 years & from 1996-1998, I suffered from plantar fasciitis and I have to say that it seriously dented my sense of humor to say the least. Following 1998, my heel pain came and went intermittently. Quite the distraction.
Since then I've developed an approach to resolving foot issues (plantar fasciitis, fallen arches/flat feet, Morton's neuroma,hammer toes,bunions) all without surgery.(or those uncomfortable cortisone shots to the foot!)
If you love your body and want to treat it with as much compassion and care as possible, I would like to suggest that you consider working on your own feet while you're exploring the options out there...
WHat does that look like?
Well, consider that the current condition of our feet is the result of a few things:
The main one being:
How have we been walking around on them for our lives up to now?
Think about it: when we look down at our feet when we're standing normally, do our feet turn out to the sides? do they turn in to the center? are they parallel? Generally it's most efficient for most of us to orient our feet to a parallel position and about hip-width apart (this is also approx. two fist-widths apart.)
unlocked knees and lose hips and relax such that we're standing as a consequence of balance rather than rigid strength...this allows for more fluid circulation.
There's alot more to this, but for now this is a great place to start.
Also, as with any structural/muscular challenge, we are well-served by attending to muscular de-congestion...
WHat this means is that if our feet hurt, they're screaming for attention and asking that we de-congest the muscle tissue by ALOT of massage (daily, often, and more)
Third is to assess our internal stories..the ones we tell ourselves when we talk to ourselves about our feet...(i.e. judgements, opinions, etc.) these can be the equivalent of negative criticism to a little kid....our cells listen to only us...and we communicate our stories via biochemical messages to our body with the speed of light...so, it might be a god idea to look at, rather than eliminating negative stories, creating stories/narratives which support your health and wellbeing...
There's a bunch more, too much to write at this time, but I can for sure say that from personal experience that, after wearing prescription orthotics for 21 years, I took them off 6.5 years ago and never looked back...three months later, I was able to dance for 4 hours straight BAREFOOT no less with absolutely no pain the next morning except my quads which were not used to dancing that much...
I can only say that this was the most transformational experience of my life to date because a.) my pain was gone b.) my dependancy on my orthotics was gone and...most important to me...c.) I DID IT MYSELF!!!!
I have some great friends who are MD's and with all due respect, they're not taught anything like this in medical school...mostly they're taught pharmaceuticals and surgery...not the natural self-repair/self-balancing mechanism of the human body with the exception of a few moments...Also, they're geared for the common person who has been trained to have 'experts'
tell them what to do...
What this approach requires is that the individual gets out of it whatever they put into it...kind of like our feet, which are the result of how we've been "driving" them...ie. more results from daily attention...At least that's my experience...hey, I've been walking on 'em, I can renew them...
It's really simple physics...
SO...I encourage you to soak your feet in some warm water into which you dissolve a bunch of salt and baking soda...
Then, after they're dry and without oil or cream, just start squeezing and stretching and manipulating the muscles of your feet....press as deeply as possible up to, but not into your pain area...
Read, "Healing Back Pain" by John Sarno, MD. In it he says that pain is often the result of oxygen deprivation and increased circulation delivers more O2 and more nutrients and waste elimination...more massage (don't go hurting yourself, now) = more circulation...
Keep it up!
Peace
John C. =0)
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