My Experience Seeing a Podiatrist
I was so excited to get out of lockdown. No, ECSTATIC.
For the first time in a very long time, I could legally go to visit my brother and his girlfriend who only lived a ten-minute drive away. And in my frenzy of excitement, I ran down the stairs in my townhouse, slipped and crushed my right foot.
The pain was pretty bad, you know when it’s so bad that you start laughing all while holding the injury and rocking back and forth. But I was determined to go to my brother’s house for dinner so I ignored it and hoped the pain would go away. But by the start of the next year, my foot was still in agony so I requested an x-ray which didn’t show anything.
My GP gave me the whole spiel about chronic pain and about how my body isn’t really in pain but it’s just my brain telling me that it is. I also spoke to my Osteopath about it who said sometimes these kinds of injuries just take a long time to heal on their own and her sprained ankle took over 8-months to heal. So, I just left it hoping that it would eventually resolve itself.
And while it did get better, it never did resolve itself and I was having a hard time when it came to walking. Not just walking for exercise but basic walking like walking to do the grocery shopping and walking around the home to do housework. And this wasn’t ideal because I already had issues with pain and movement from when I had experienced a case of reactive arthritis about five years ago (you can read about my reflections on this time here) and when this health crisis occurred, the bottoms of my feet were in absolute agony.
As the years went on the pain and inflammation from that time slowly decreased but my body was never the same. Every time I went for a walk or stood up for a long period of time, the bottoms of my feet really hurt. So after another year of lockdowns ended, I was finally able to make an appointment with a podiatrist.
I was pretty nervous. I have had some bad experiences with medical practitioners in the past and the last thing I wanted to hear yet again was that it was all in my head. But as soon as I walked in the door, she got to business and I was pretty blown away.
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She was like a foot geek! She was genuinely so passionate about what she does and immediately got down to the ground to look at my feet and asked to see how I walked. She quickly pointed to where she thought I was having pain which was the top of my foot and my ankle. I couldn’t believe she found it right away just by looking at my feet, especially after I had seen a Physiotherapist who after moving my foot around for a while, couldn’t really find where the pain was.
She explained that I had either stretched or torn ligaments in my foot (which don’t show up on an x-ray) from when I fell and that my body never had time to recover since I never treated it. She said I had a high arch which was causing me to walk on the outsides of my feet which then caused tightness and pain in my calf muscles, hips, and lower back (they are my worst pain areas). She said I had plantar fasciitis which was causing pain on the bottom of my feet, even though I didn’t have flat feet which is what most people have.
She taped up my feet and said it should help with holding everything in place and helping me walk properly. I was then instructed to ice my feet twice a day, take Voltaren for five days, and to rest. Rest? This really struck me because in all of my years on my healing journey, not one practitioner has asked me to rest. They have always been focused on helping me push through my blocks so I am able to, well get back to work basically.
I was so confused about what she meant by rest that I asked G when I get home what he thought that meant. He said I had to lay for five days and not do much. To stay off my feet. I looked at him with eyes wide, still so confused. I exclaimed, “How I am supposed to do housework or grocery shopping or drive or go to work?”. He replied, “You don’t. That’s what rest is.”
Of course, in true Capricorn fashion, I was still rushing around the house that night washing my bedclothes and putting things up for sale on marketplace. By the end of the day, my feet were in agony and he was just shaking his head at me. So, I guess I realised I don’t know how to rest but that may be something to dive into in another blog.
Archies thongs (click image to find on eBay)
It was also recommended that I wear shoes at all times instead of thongs but if I absolutely have to wear thongs, to only wear Archies, a supportive thong. And to purchase either Moka Bondi runners or New Balance 880 or 1080. (Although these might only be best for my feet and not someone else’s as I don’t have a flat foot).
She also suggested that I consider orthotics, although it would cost me around $700.00 (so I need to check with my private health company if they will cover any of this). Best of all, she said I absolutely should not be in pain.
All in all, this was one of the most informative practitioners I have ever seen and I walked away (hehe) feeling like I actually had a plan in mind. If I wasn’t able to get the pain down after rest, then she would tape me again the next time I saw her and try to some dry needling.
What was also great was that the price of the session was covered by Medicare because my GP completed a Chronic Disease Management Plan for me, where you get five bulk-billed sessions with a certain practitioner such as a Physio, Chiro, Osteo, Psychologist, Dietician, or Podiatrist for the year.
So, if you have experienced any kind of foot pain that you have been ignoring or you have noticed you no longer have an arch in your foot, or you feel like your walk or run is a bit off, this may be the right practitioner for you. If you have any experience in this area, please let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear xo
